I think and hope that the STS is not totally "lost" ... We have some hopes ... Lot of people in the US try to make some new flights again till 2017.
The infrastructure already is taken down and won't allow another flights. Not even a single one anymore. Discovery already is decommissioned while Endeavour is in the decommissioning process and Atlantis is following now. And the External Tanks are gone. The last one ever produced flew with STS-135 (and if one looks at the latest analyses of the SLS, I think Lockheed Martin won't aver produce something like this again). Thousands of jobs are going to be lost soon. And I think the first string of layoffs already took place.
Following the layoffs, some Astronauts are leaving NASA now because they have nothing more to expect at NASA within their careers...
- 1500 jobs were lost at KSC one day after Atlantis landed. 8,000 more to go before 2011 is over.
- Veteran Astros left for better jobs (like Massimino who, I think, works at SpaceX)
- Some veteran Astros stay and new ASCANS are being accepted for ISS jobs.
/Admin