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Boeing on Saturday warned employees involved in its Space Launch System moon rocket program that it expected to lay off around 400 people.
The news comes amid delays and rising costs for NASA’s Artemis program, which was established during President Trump’s first term, and aims to send astronauts back to the moon.
Its budget is expected to be around $93 billion through the end of the year.
It also comes as the new Trump administration has started to lay off government employees from some institutions, although it’s not clear whether the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to make cuts to NASA.
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One of four main engine nozzles is shown on the core stage of the Space Launch System rocket for Artemis II at a NASA Artemis Media event at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (ReutersJoe Skipper/File Photo / Reuters)
Musk’s SpaceX is NASA’s main carrier of astronauts to the International Space Station, and the company has several major contracts with the government.
The U.S. last sent astronauts to the moon during the last Apollo mission, Apollo 17, in 1972.
“To align with revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations, we informed our Space Launch Systems team of the potential for approximately 400 fewer positions by April 2025,” Boeing told FOX Business in a statement.
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Painters refurbish the NASA logo on the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Gregg Newton/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Boeing said that employees affected by involuntary layoffs would be given 60-day notices in the coming weeks, “in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.”
The company added that it was trying to minimize job losses by moving employees across the company to minimize job losses and “retain our talented teammates.”
After NASA successfully launched the Artemis I in 2022, the Artemis II mission was delayed from 2024 to September.
Elon Musk runs President Trump’s federal cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Brandon Bell/Pool via Reuters / Reuters)
Astronauts plan to orbit the moon on the Artemis II mission, and on Artemis III, they will walk on the moon. That mission was also delayed from 2025 until September 2026.
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Artemis I was an uncrewed mission that orbited the moon.
FOX Business has reached out to NASA for comment.
FOX Business’ Michael Dorgan and Reuters contributed to this report.
