Boeing has confirmed its Defense, Space, & Security unit will downsize in the coming weeks as it realigns the Space Launch System (SLS) “moon rocket” project with changes to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Artemis program. The contractor will issue 60-day notices to about 400 workers in that unit in the coming weeks.
"We are working with our customer and seeking opportunities to redeploy employees across our company to minimize job losses," according to a Boeing spokesperson.
The changes are apparently not connected to the wider downsizing effort at Boeing, which is linked mainly to the ongoing losses in the commercial aerospace business but will target executives, managers, and regular employees across the company.
The Boeing Defense organization reported a $5.4 billion loss for 2024, with revenues down -4% year-over-year, and an order backlog of $64 billion.
Boeing SLS is a heavy-lift, expendable launch vehicle developed from Space Shuttle technology, e.g., solid rocket boosters and the RS-25 liquid-fueled rocket engine. SLS was selected by NASA as the launch vehicle for its Orion spacecraft. Its sole use to date was the Artemis I mission, completed successfully in 2022.
The Artemis program was established by NASA in 2017 to revive lunar exploration, and in the long-term to establish a permanent base on the Moon, in preparation for human missions to Mars.
The Artemis II phase, postponed from 2024 and now scheduled for 2025, would be the first manned test flight for the SLS and Orion, orbiting the Moon. Following that ,Artemis III would be a manned mission to land on the Moon, ostensibly in late 2026.
The Artemis program carries an estimated cost of $93 billion through 2025, which seemingly is now threatened by aggressive elimination of federal funds deemed non-essential.
A parallel point of interest is that SpaceX founder and chairman Elon Musk, who also heads the Dept. of Government Efficiency, has criticized NASA’s intention to use Artemis to return to the Moon as an intermediate step toward human exploration of Mars. Musk has expressed a preference for Martian exploration to focus directly on reaching and exploring the Red Planet.
