A lot of them likely would have been working on getting those things designed and built. It takes time to get things like this from the conception stage to flight-ready. For example, the Saturn V was first announced by NASA on January 10, 1962. The first one didn't fly until the Apollo 4 mission on November 9, 1967. So, what was that about a five year period? Sounds about right to me for bringing a new system on line. I'm sure many of the contractor employees now heading for the unemployment office would have been happy to have been working on Orion and Constellation, five year gap or no.
In any case, it beats Muslim Outreach.
A lot of them likely would have been working on getting those things designed and built. Would they? The last space shuttle was designed and built decades ago, and NASA didn't build it. The people being let go are the ones who have been supporting the shuttles and planning and operating the missions. Well, the shuttle is going away. The replacement would have been a decade away. There is absolutely no reason to retain them just for the sake of retaining them in a job if there is nothing for them to do.