In a community marred by space shuttle job losses and foreclosures, a Titusville business is a beacon of light, literally.

Barn Light Electric held a grand opening this weekend for a new lamp manufacturing facility and the company is relying on NASA’s former workforce to grow.

Lowell Smith spent 12 years as an electrician at Kennedy Space Center but when the last space shuttle left KSC so did his job. He was laid off. “I knew I was getting laid off, so I started looking, and it turned out to be a lot of part time jobs, but not very many full time, so I was thankful."

But Smith is thankful that he was able to find work at Barn Light Electric bending pipes that would eventually be turned into lamps.

Walter Brim was also laid off. His former company did work for NASA and he spent 2 ½ years looking for work. “Very hard to find a job in Titusville, anywhere in Brevard County, so it was very difficult, I applied out of state and it's just been hard everywhere."

Barn Light Electric has hired more than 60 people in the past couple of months and they’re expanding. They just opened up a 40,000 square foot facility where they make more than 100 different styles of lamps.

The owner, Bryan Scott, and his wife started the business in their spare bedroom. It took off online and now the couple has three locations and 118 people working for them. “We've been able to locate buildings like this that we can go in and rehab, we've got a huge selection of new employees to gather from because of all of the layoffs at the space center, so it's a great place really to start up manufacturing," said Bryan Scott.

But it’s not just former space center employees they are hiring. They are also giving rehabilitated drug addicts a second chance. "Sometimes people deserve that second chance, and those people make good workers," said Barn Light Electric plant general manager John Bragg.

While the new facility just opened, they are already planning to expand, adding an additional 10,000 square feet to the back of the building.

Barn Light Electric says about 95 percent of their sales are internet based. The company does some work in Mims and has its headquarters on US1 in Titusville.