The Shrinking Space Shuttle Workforce

The next time you hear someone say the problem with government is that once it starts some program or initiative, it never stops, tell them to consider this (courtesy of Florida Today):

In 2006, NASA's space shuttle program employed 14,000 contractors and 1,800 federal employees. By November 2009, the program was down to 10,300 contractors and 1,200 civil servants. And at the end of May 2010, the contractor workforce stood at 8,741.

Then another 900 technicians, engineers and managers were told their jobs could be gone by Oct. 1. And more than 3,200 additional jobs are on the chopping block if NASA sticks to its schedule of flying the last shuttle mission next February.

Now the space agency is funding "critical completion bonuses" for contractor staff to make sure key employees don't jump ship and jeopardize mission safety before the last shuttle flies.