United Space Alliance Laying Off 400 Space Shuttle Employees

United Space Alliance, NASA’s primary contractor for the space shuttle program, will lay off 400 employees in October, as the program winds down. The final shuttle launch will be in September 2010.

Layoffs may be avoided through early retirements. More than half of the jobs targeted are in Florida.

United Space Alliance is a spaceflight operations company, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. It was established in 1995 as a Limited Liability Company. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas and employs 9,300 people in Texas, Florida, Alabama, and the Washington DC.