CAPE CANAVERAL -- More than 6,000 workers at the Kennedy Space Center could lose their jobs after the space shuttle is retired in 2010, a new NASA report released Tuesday said.
In all, some 6,400 shuttle workers were slated to get cut by 2011.
NASA said many of those workers would find jobs with the new Constellation moon rocket program, but that program would never see the massive 8,000 workers needed for the space shuttle.
NASA said it all came down to money, and the only way to get a shot at more was by flying the shuttle well for the next two years.
"If we want these numbers to change, it's going to take a team effort from all of us," said Bill Parsons, director of the Kennedy Space Center. "Also, if we make a mistake, and we don't fly the shuttle safely, then things will happen much faster than currently planned."
A bill was in congress to keep the shuttle flying, but Parsons said he had to plan as if that bill would fail and workers would be lost.
The Constellation program, which is developing the vehicle and rockets to go to the moon and Mars, was not scheduled to begin flights until 2015.
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