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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.
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 US 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.
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.
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.
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.
