Apr 16, 2011 08:10 GMT  ·  By
USA will lay off between 2,400 and 2,600 shuttle workers between late July and early August, 2011
   USA will lay off between 2,400 and 2,600 shuttle workers between late July and early August, 2011

In an official announcement made recently, the largest contractor NASA is working with on the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) announced that it will lay off about 2,800 workers this year, as the three orbiters are being retired from active duty.

On Tuesday, April 12, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the final destinations for Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavor and Enterprise. This means that, once the last two missions are flown, the orbiters will be processed and sent to their respective locations.

Endeavor is scheduled to take off on its final mission, STS-134, in about two weeks. It will launch from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), on a 14-day flight to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector to the International Space Station (ISS).

Atlantis' final flight, designated STS-135, is scheduled to take place in late June. Once the shuttle returns, the SSP will be officially over. As such, the United Space Alliance (USA) is forced to lay off about 50 percent of its workforce.

Estimates from the company show that between 2,600 and 2,800 of its roughly 5,600 employees will have their work contracts terminated as a result of shutting down the shuttle program, Space reports.

A statement from the company indicates that the layoffs will take place between late July and early August, and that they are caused by “the completion of tasks related to day-to-day operations of the Shuttle fleet.”

At this time, USA operates its most important facilities near and at the KSC, but it also has work locations around the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas, and the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), in Huntsville, Alabama.

“The accomplishments of this team are unmatched in human spaceflight. It will be difficult to say goodbye to such tremendously talented and dedicated teammates, and we are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for them,” says USA President and CEO, Virginia Barnes.

NASA and USA have known that the SSP is coming to an end since 2004, when the Administration of then-President George W. Bush took this decision following the disastrous loss of space shuttle Columbia, in 2003.

In addition to severance pays, the shuttle contractor also plans to provide those who get fired with several opportunities, such as job fairs, interview training, career transitioning training, resume development and retention planning.

“Though USA will be a significantly smaller company after the space shuttle program is completed, we are optimistic about our future,” Barnes goes on to say.

“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,” she adds.