spacetoday.net: Lockheed to lay off external tank workers

Posted: Thu, Apr 1, 2004, 8:53 AM ET (1353 GMT)
Shuttle external tank under construction (J. Foust)

Lockheed Martin will lay of 65 employees at a New Orleans facility that makes the external tanks used by the space shuttle, the company announced Wednesday. The layoffs at the Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans were prompted by a realignment of work from building new tanks to modifying existing tanks to be used on future flights. The plant had previously planned to produce six external tanks a year, but NASA officials now say that number will be reduced to an unspecified number in the near future. The future of the plant has come into question because of plans to retire the shuttle around the end of the decade, meaning there will be only about 25 more shuttle missions left. Local politicians have lobbied NASA to find a role for the plant after the shuttle is retired. The plant, which was previously used to build portions of the Saturn 5, employs about 2,000 people.