Boeing told employees working on the NASA Artemis Lunar Program’s space launch system rocket, which could face layoffs by April.
The move highlights the uncertainty facing the Artemis program under the Trump administration, but does not reveal any concrete changes to the current Artemis program.
“In line with the Artemis program revisions and cost expectations, we have today notified the Space Launch Systems team of the possibility of approximately 400 positions by April 2025,” the company said in a media statement.
The company, which announced a potential layoff on Friday, requires all affected employees to be notified of 60 days of unwilling layoffs as part of the Federal Worker Coordination and Retraining Notification Act. He said there is.
“We are working with our customers and are looking for opportunities to redeploy our employees to minimize job losses and retain talented teammates,” the company said. .
The Artemis team leader says big changes under Trump could mean more delays
Boeing is a major contractor for the SLS rocket’s core stage and when combined with Northrop Grumman’s solid rocket booster, it offers the rocket an 8.8. With a million pound thrust at the lift-off, it has now become the most powerful rocket ever to send anything into orbit.
So far, the SLS rocket has only flew once on the free Artemis I mission in late 2022.
The second SLS rocket is tapped for the Artemis II. This is Orion’s first crew scheduled for April 2026, and aims to fly the four astronauts, but will not land on the moon.
The core stage of that mission arrived at the Kennedy Space Center last summer, and is now within the vehicle assembly building, mated with a solid rocket booster, potentially fully stacked, padded before the end of the 39-b Ready to launch the wet dress rehearsal year.
The Artemis III mission was during that time when Orion got caught up in the Lunar Orbit on SpaceX Starship, allowing astronauts to venture humanly for the first time since the end of the Apollo program in 1972 and return to the moon.
For now, that mission is expected to come in the summer of 2027.
However, the Trump administration has shifted direction for the Artemis program, including further use of SLS rockets, especially as SpaceX founder Elon Musk seeks a new focus on Mars, and has shifted direction to the Artemis program, including the further use of SLS rockets, to subscribe from Boeing. It encourages layoffs like this.
NASA’s official stance states that SLS is “an important element of the agency’s Artemis campaign,” the agency said in an email. “NASA and its industry partners are committed to supporting NASA’s moon with Mars goals and goals, to efficiently, safely and successfully implementing budgets, resources, contractor performance and mission requirements. We work continuously to assess and coordinate budgets, resources, contractor performance and schedules. NASA defends industry contractors for more information on the workforce.”
The layoff will affect core stage production at NASA’s Mikudo Assembly facility in New Orleans, and Boeing Jobs in Florida at the Kennedy Space Center.
No details were provided that Florida employment numbers could be affected.
Boeing has already announced 141 layoffs in its Florida business, which was part of its intention to fire 10% of its approximately 170,000 employees nationwide in 2024.
These include 26 at the KSC office, where Starliner’s spacecraft is built, and 20 more at Titusville, home to Boeing’s Space and Launch Division headquarters.
Original issue: February 10th, 2025, 2:03pm EST
