Boeing Space Exploration To Lay Off 510 Shuttle Workers

Boeing Space Exploration, Houston, gave notice that it will cut 510 more employees as the winding down of the space shuttle program continues.

Boeing on June 3 gave 60-day advance layoff notices to 260 employees in Houston, 150 at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and 100 at its Huntington Beach, Calif., facility, the company said in a statement.

“This by far is our largest planned reduction,” said Boeing spokesman Ed Memi.

If Space Shuttle Atlantis launches July 8 as planned, the 510 Boeing employees who got notice will work their last day Aug. 5.

The layoffs announced June 3 are more than double the 200 employees that Boeing has already let go because of the impending end of space shuttle operations.

“We hope that the next generation exploration launch system will serve to mitigate some of these losses,” Brewster Shaw, Boeing Space Exploration vice president and general manager, said in a statement.

Boeing is one of the main subcontractors to United Space Alliance, the primary contractor for space shuttle operations. USA is a joint venture between Boeing Co., Chicago, and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md. USA has said it will lay off 2,900 employees after the last shuttle flight.