Less than a week before space shuttles start rolling out for public display, NASA's prime space shuttle contractor handed out pink slips to more than 9 percent of its work force.

United Space Alliance, a joint venture started in 1996 by Boeing and Lockheed Martin aerospace companies to combine their space shuttle contract work, laid off 269 of its space shuttle workers on Friday, Apr. 13.

"After today'[s] reduction in force, USA's total headcount is 2,589," wrote United Space Alliance spokesperson Tracy Yates in an e-mail to Wired.

Next week the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum plans to unveil Discovery, the first of four remaining space shuttles slated to arrive at museums across the United States. Discovery will roll into its final resting place in Chantilly, Virginia on Apr. 19, following a flyover aboard a jumbo jet (weather permitting).

Jay Beason was a senior aerospace technician at United Space Alliance until the company laid him off today. Beason began working with the space shuttles in 1988 and said he will miss his work family of 23 years.

"I spent countless hours and days and weekends with these guys. We loved what we did so much," said Beason, who, in his most recent job at United Space Alliance, helped test and configure the space shuttles' crew modules for astronauts.

"Turning in my badges was the hardest part. It felt like someone taking a piece of you away, a piece of your personality, a piece of your being," he said. "I knew it was coming since February, but there's no way to prepare for something like that. I got very emotional."

Space shuttle workers like Beason numbered close to 9,000 just a few years ago. Big rounds of shuttle retirement-related layoffs, however, have whittled the workforce down every four to five months since April 2009.

The rest may be out of work in October when NASA's last reusable space plane becomes a museum piece.

"There's a fear in USA's workforce that it will be dissolved once the shuttle contracts are completed," said former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao, now a special adviser for human spaceflight at the Space Foundation.

Chiao was a member of NASA's 2009 Augustine Commission to review several plans for human spaceflight. Along with other members of the group, he recommended keeping the space shuttle workforce intact until private companies proved they could transport astronauts to the International Space Station.

"I think we should have kept it flying one to two flights a year through 2015," Chiao said. "That would have given us the ability to launch astronauts and a lot of cargo into space without the help of Russia."

Beason said he and other hundreds of other laid-off workers conglomerate in private groups on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks. Other than keeping tabs on each other's lives, Beason said many of the former shuttle workers grip onto a hope for another space race.

"My hope is that people will start asking, 'Why are we not on the moon? Why are we not on an asteroid already?'" he said. "Something has to give. Despite being laid off, I guess you could say I'm excited for my future."

Correction: Space shuttle Discovery will be put on display in Chantilly, Virginia at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.