The sky may not be the limit for thousands of NASA contractors. Jesse Russell reports.

A plan to end NASA’s space shuttle program in the year 2010 could result in the loss of more than 8000 jobs. The agency made the announcement on Tuesday and warns that not too much should be made out of those numbers. The shuttle program will be replaced with the Constellation program which is focused on developing spaceships that can travel to the moon and beyond. Many factors could impact the job projections, including the next President of the United States. Jobs could be preserved, even increased, if the next occupant of the White House believes space exploration to be a necessary endeavor. The region that could be hit the hardest is Cape Canaveral, where nearly 80 percent of the staff at the Kennedy Space Center could be laid off.