posted 04-30-2009 09:14 PM               

With retirement of the space shuttle program expected next year after just nine more flights, NASA's managers Thursday announced the first major round of job losses, saying 160 contractor workers would face layoffs Friday, the first of up to 900 jobs that will be lost between now and the end of the fiscal year.

"Tomorrow, we have a layoff of about 160 people on the team," shuttle Program Manager John Shannon told reporters. "Between tomorrow and the end of September, we will reduce the program by about 900 people. They are primarily manufacturing team members. We have delivered the last pieces of hardware that those team members produce and we don't keep them on the roles. And that is in order to get our budget down to the marks and the assumptions we made early on. So we will start tomorrow and continue with the workforce reduction we had outlined."

Several hundred jobs will be lost to attrition and some employees will transfer to other contractors or projects. The rest will be layoffs. Shannon would not say what companies will absorb the initial round of job reductions.

"Not all of the companies have notified their employees so I don't want to get real specific," he said. "But it's primarily for manufacturing and vendors."

The shuttle program employs about 1,600 NASA civil servants across the space agency and 13,800 contractors. Production of major components such as external fuel tanks, built by Lockheed Martin, and solid-fuel boosters, built by ATK, is winding down as the program nears retirement.

posted 07-06-2010 03:04 PM               

United Space Alliance To Reduce Workforce By 15 Percent

United Space Alliance announced today that the company will layoff about 15 percent of its current Space Shuttle workforce, effective October 1, 2010, in order to align the workforce level with the company's Space Shuttle Program Operations Contract work scope and current budget.

Two missions remain in the Space Shuttle Program -- STS-133 currently scheduled for no earlier than November 1, 2010, and STS-134 set for February 26, 2011.

USA employs approximately 8,100 employees at its Florida, Texas and Alabama sites. The reduction in force will affect multiple disciplines and multiple organizations across the company. It is expected to impact about 800-1000 employees in Florida, about 300-400 employees in Texas, and about 10 Alabama.

"Our workforce has known for several years that the Space Shuttle Program has been scheduled to end, but layoffs are always difficult for everyone involved," said Virginia Barnes, USA President and Chief Executive Officer. "The accomplishments of this team are unmatched in human spaceflight. We acknowledge the tremendous talent and commitment of our teammates and congratulate them on their achievements. We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible."

All employees subject to the layoff will receive severance compensation and access to support for resume development, job interview training and career transition training.

"Though USA will be a significantly smaller company after the Space Shuttle Program is completed, we are optimistic about our future," Barnes said. "USA has a great deal to offer in the way of skills, experience and expertise, and we are looking forward to providing our unique capabilities to a wide variety of new and existing customers."