NASA estimates 3,000 to 4,000 shuttle job losses

Yeah. So? Time to cut back.

They should keep the boondoggle space shittle going until Constellation is ready in 2015(or so). We need to keep a presence in space for the duration.

well everyone is cutting back...

We spend less than a penny of every tax dollar on NASA and the space program. Just imagine what a space program funded at more reasonable levels could accomplish. We don't need to spend at the rate we did for Apollo, but NASA really is a very economical way to invest in the future by developing new and innovative technology and also inspiring our future generations to do things they might not otherwise have done.

The sooner we finish with the dinosaur space shuttle program, the sooner we can start building the Ares V rocket and the rest of the Constellation program that will take us back to the Moon and beyond the "ho hum" low Earth orbit. Every day we continue with the Shuttle is a day we aren't able to start working on the future. We should fund the Orion spacecraft properly and get it flying sooner rather than continuing to limp along with the lame duck shuttle. In the original schedule, we were going to have the Orion spacecraft and Ares I flying in 2012 or 2013. Don't get me wrong - the shuttle is a remarkable spacecraft - it's just past its prime and it's time to move on.