NASA Could Lay Off 3,500 as Shuttle Program Ends

About 3,500 people could receive pink slips as early as next year, when NASA begins layoffs and begins to wind down the space shuttle program. The layoffs would continue for the next two or three years.

NASA officials told members of the U.S. Senate yesterday that the Kennedy Space Center would take the biggest hit when the shuttles are permanently grounded a year and a half from now. It will be at least five years before a spacecraft to replace the shuttle is ready to blast off.

When the shuttles are no longer operable, there will still be six crew members aboard the International Space Station. American astronauts and scientists working there will be transported back and forth on Russian spacecraft until the U.S. replacement is ready.