The Wall Street Journal printed a story on April 29, 2009 that read; Shuttle program could receive $2.5 Billion to keep flying through 2011. Authorization by the House and Senate will allow the shuttle fleet to continue to operate through 2011, if necessary. The shuttle is scheduled to retire in2010. However, the $2.5 billion in funding will allow it to continue to complete missions to the International Space Station if its replacement is not ready.
Reuters News Service on April 30, 2009 stated; Shuttle retirement prompts NASA to start layoffs. The upcoming retirement of the space shuttle will prompt NASA to cut 900 jobs over the next five months. NASA will send the first notices of job cuts out today to contractors Lockheed Martin and ATK Thiokal, which build te shuttle's fuel tanks. NASA plans to retire the shuttle fleet after eight more missions.
As usual, the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. I can almost guarantee that NASA will push flying the shuttle until the Constellation Orion is ready. The loss of revenue for NASA would be astronomical as well as job losses. What are the consequences for safety to the three shuttle's that remain in the fleet and the twenty one astronauts that fly in them?
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