We don't *want* them back into space work.

Then who would do it? If you wipe out 99% of those who know anything
about the practicalities of spacecraft design, manufacture and
operation, one of the *first* results will be to turn off investors.

Yes, get rid of the do-nothing management types, the retired-in-place
crowd, the lawyers. But a large fraction of those employed in the space
field are actually *capable.* And while an engineer at a rocket company
can go work electronics, say, the reverse is not necessarily true.
There is a LOT of tribal knowledge in this field.

The Shuttle program, compared to a rational program, is overmanned by at *least* an order
of magnitude.

A rational program would be *vast* in capability and flight rate
compared to Shuttle. But we got what we got. Lobotomizing your industry
is not a good idea if you want the capability to continue, much less
improve.