Shuttle Endeavour Nearing Final Flight. Photo Credit/NASA Photo
With NASA’s space shuttle program drawing to a close, the space agency’s Houston-based shuttle prime contractor, United Space Alliance, announced on Friday it will lay off nearly half of its 5,600 total workforce in Florida, Texas and Alabama following the final flight.
Altantis, with a crew of four astronauts, is scheduled to lift off on the last of NASA’s 135 shuttle flights no earlier than June 28. The supply mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to last 12 days.
The shuttle program marked its 30th anniversary last Tuesday.
“It will be difficult to say goodbye to such tremendously talented and dedicated team mates, and we are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for them,” said Virginia Barnes, USA’s president and chief executive officer. “The accomplishments of this team are unmatched in human spaceflight.”
President George W. Bush announced plans to end the shuttle program in early 2004, in the aftermath of the 2003 shuttle Columbia tragedy. He called on NASA to retire the shuttle after the agency completed the long assembly of the International Space Station.
Shuttle Endeavour and a crew of six astronauts are preparing to lift off April 29 on a 14-to 16-day mission to equip the station with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion external observatory that will study cosmic rays. Endeavour’s crew will also equip the station with spare parts for thermal control, communications and electrical power systems.
The crew of Atlantis will deliver additional supplies to help sustain space station operations for up to a year, as NASA fosters the development of commercial space transporation services.
USA’s employment losses are estimated at between 2,600 to 2,800 company wide, including 1850 to 1950 workers at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.; 750-800 workers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex.; and 30-40 at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
The company is seeking those who are prepared to separate voluntarily before handing out lay off notices. USA plans separation packages and career transition assistance.