spacetoday.net: Strike threatens Boeing launch schedule

Posted: Sun, Oct 30, 2005, 12:05 PM ET (1705 GMT)
Delta 4 booster on pad awaiting launch (Boeing)

A pending strike by Boeing aerospace workers threatens to delay several upcoming launches of Delta rockets. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers plan to go on strike later this week if the union and Boeing cannot reach an agreement on a new contract. The union represents several hundreds workers at the Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base launch sites, as well as production and management facilities in Alabama and California. Boeing officials said that a strike would force them to stop preparations on three upcoming launches: a Delta 2 launch of NASA's Calipso and Cloudsat spacecraft from Vandenberg, a Delta 4 launch of the GOES-N weather satellite from Cape Canaveral, and the Delta 4 launch of a classified satellite from Vandenberg. Last week NASA delayed the integration of the Calipso and Cloudsat satellites atop its Delta 2, in effect delaying its November 7 launch, because NASA did not want the satellites sitting on the pad for an extended period because of a strike.