Boeing called on employees employed in the SLS missiles project to prepare for dismissal

Criticism of the project of a huge lunar missile NASA SLS has long been predicting a complete stop. Commercial cosmonautics is an order of magnitude cheaper. The new White House administration is determined to restore order in NASA in this matter and the main contractor of the SLS project represented by Boeing already understood this. On Friday, an unscheduled assembly was held in Boeing with the personnel of the project, which was recommended to morally prepare for forced dismissal.

Image source: NASA

The Boeing team of the SLS project about an unscheduled assembly was warned an hour before the event. Boeing Vice President and the SLS missile program manager, David Dutcher, spoke to the gathered for less than six minutes and did not answer questions. “It is cold and on a piece of paper,” one of the employees of the company described the performance of the Danker.

During his speech, Datcher said that Boeing contracts for the supply of rockets may end in March and that the company is preparing for dismissal in case contracts with the space agency are not extended. In parallel, the company issued a notification for employees within the framework of the notification law, which is aimed at protecting the dismissed personnel in companies with more than 100 employees. The law requires such notifications 60 days before the closure of enterprises.

«In accordance with the changes in the Artemis program and the expected costs today, we informed our Space Launch Systems team about a possible reduction by about 400 posts by April 2025, ”the Boeing representative told Arstechnica. A time reserve is needed to search for other posts to employees from the covered project, and for retraining employees.

The cost of one SLS missile, without taking into account the payload and expenses for ground infrastructure, reached $ 2 billion. Boeing barely began to collect the second missile under the Artemis program – it should deliver the orion ship with people on board on board the moon orbit and return to Earth. The third missile should help with the landing of astronauts on the moon. The White House has not yet decided on the fate of the entire program, and it remains likely that Artemis 2 and 3 missions will be preserved in the same form. At the same time, commercial launches cost an order of magnitude cheaper, and the same SpaceX can receive key and even all contracts for the delivery of astronauts to the moon.

The budget proposals of the new US President Donald Trump will be announced to Congress after about 60 days. Congress is not obliged to follow all his recommendations and will also determine the fate of the space lunar program. Anything can happen, but the fate of the SLS missile definitely hung in the balance.