spacetoday.net: USA announces shuttle layoffs

Posted: Wed, Jul 7, 2010, 7:33 AM ET (1133 GMT)
STS-132: landing (NASA/KSC)

The company that handles space shuttle operations announced Tuesday that it will lay off over 1,000 employees in October as shuttle program winds down. United Space Alliance, (USA) a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, said it will layoff 15 percent of its 8,100-person workforce when the new fiscal year begins on October 1. The bulk of the layoffs, estimated to be 800 to 1,000 employees, will be in Florida, with most of the remainder in Texas. Two shuttle missions remain on the current manifest, scheduled for November and next February, and USA said the layoffs are needed "to align the workforce level" with the work scope and budget of its contract with NASA to handle shuttle operations. Several thousand people are expected to lose their jobs when the shuttle program ends next year.