Boeing Lays Off 36 Employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

The Boeing Company, part of both the United Space Alliance and United Launch Alliance has laid off a total of some 36 of its employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. These employees run the range from general support personnel to engineers. The employees were given two month notices.

Boeing has hundreds of employees that work in the shuttle program, most of whom will lose their jobs when the shuttles are mothballed. More layoffs will happen in the spring and again in the fall.

In October of 2009, nearly 300 employees of the United Space Alliance were laid off, most of these accepted early retirement. Given the current state of the economy, the end of the space shuttle program marks a one-two punch for the aerospace community. Long-time employees are now forced to find work in what has been called the worst economic condition since the Great Depression. Meanwhile new employees, fresh out of college are forced to compete with individuals with 20-or-more years of experience in their profession.

Along with the other positions that will be lost due to the end of the shuttle program, Florida’s Brevard County will have increased to 14 percent – making it a tie for the highest unemployment rate in the nation. After the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and the unveiling of the Vision for Space Exploration, the shuttle program was given an end-date – September of 2010.