What we know: Boeing expects more Florida layoffs, NASA's SLS future remains unknown

USA Today

10-02-2025

Boeing informed its employees working on NASA's Artemis program that it was preparing for as many as 400 layoffs connected to the giant rocket under development amid possible shakeups to the country's return-to-the-moon initiative, the company said.
Employees working on NASA's Space Launch System rocket received the warning just days ago. Around 400 employees will receive a 60-day layoff notice, as required by the WARN Act.
"To align with revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations, today we informed our Space Launch Systems team of the potential for approximately 400 fewer positions by April 2025," Boeing said in a statement to FLORIDA TODAY.
"This will require 60-day notices of involuntary layoff be issued to impacted employees in coming weeks, in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. We are working with our customer and seeking opportunities to redeploy employees across our company to minimize job losses and retain our talented teammates."
Boeing has employees working on the SLS program in both Alabama and here in Brevard County − most notably on the SLS rocket being stacked inside NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
As of Monday, Boeing had not revealed the exact number of employees expected to be impacted, which positions might be cut or how it would impact future Artemis missions. This is not the first time Boeing has had a large space-related layoff. Back in November, some 141 Florida employees were laid off.
It's unclear what this could mean for the future of the Artemis program, which is behind schedule and widely over budget. This comes as a new administration under President Donald Trump has vowed to cut government costs, and with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having a powerful role in that effort. Some have speculated that SpaceX's Starship, which has seen its own trouble, could be tapped as a replacement for SLS.
When asked for comment, NASA gave the following statement to FLORIDA TODAY: "NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) rocket is an essential component of the agency's Artemis campaign. NASA and its industry partners continuously work together to evaluate and align budget, resources, contractor performance, and schedules to execute mission requirements efficiently, safely, and successfully in support of NASA's Moon to Mars goals and objectives. NASA defers to its industry contractors for more information regarding their workforces."
As the International Space Station sees its life expectancy nearing its end in 2030, NASA is on a mission to return astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than 50 years. But the Artemis effort is already overbudget with spending on the program projected to reach $93 billion through 2025. And contractors like Boeing keep running into further delays, such as setbacks with the rocket's Block 1B upper-stage which will be used for Artemis IV and beyond to build the Gateway space station in lunar orbit. As FLORIDA TODAY previously reported, this delay added to the total cost of the Boeing upper stage, raising it to $5.7 billion — $700 million more than NASA anticipated. It also added years to the schedule.
The goal of Gateway was to be a launching point for further lunar exploration — and the road to Mars. The plan called for SpaceX's Starship to dock to the Gateway and provide transportation to and from the lunar surface post-Artemis III.
Being so over-budget and riddled with delay, SLS's feasibility came under question beyond Artemis II and III. The rocket for Aramis II, which will ferry astronauts around the moon no earlier than 2026, is currently standing inside NASA's VAB. Artemis III will be NASA's long-awaited return to the moon. However, going beyond that, Boeing's more powerful Block IB will need to be ready to support Gateway.
And there's competition. SpaceX is already eagerly eyeing Mars, with plans to send an uncrewed Starship to the planet in late 2026. A crewed mission would follow. If SpaceX holds to this timeline, which is ambitious, it would put Starship years ahead of the long-term goal of Artemis.
And if multiple Starships can make it to the moon by 2026 — and less costly than SLS — why not just use it instead, space experts have asked. While SLS has launched once after more than a decade of planning, SpaceX continues to launch and improve its Starship with seven full scale launches under their belt.
"If you can launch Starship a whole bunch of times from the surface of the Earth to Earth orbit, and a Starship can be refueled in orbit, and go fly to the vicinity of the moon, and then fly from lunar orbit down to the surface of the moon ... why don't you just launch the people on Starship from the very beginning?" James Muncy, founder of PoliSpace, a space policy organization, previously told FLORIDA TODAY.
And it was just last month during his inauguration speech that President Trump spoke of the ambitious goal of American astronauts on Mars. Musk, who has been appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cheered in response.
While it has made progress, Starship is still in the testing phases with flights out of Texas. SpaceX keeps pushing the design to its limit — as seen last month when a Starship broke apart over the Turks and Caicos Islands shortly after launch.
Now with the wait for a new NASA administrator, even more unknowns remain. Trump has tapped billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, who led two private SpaceX crewed missions, to run NASA.
When is the next Florida rocket launch?Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral
What is Boeing's role in NASA's Space Launch System?
Delayed until no earlier than Spring 2026, NASA's Artemis II will ferry astronauts around the moon. Artemis I launched uncrewed in late 2022, but issues with the Orion spacecraft's heatshield caused delays in upcoming missions. Orion is being constructed under contract by Lockheed Martin.
Boeing works on the rocket's core stage, but that has not been the source of the delay to Artemis II.
"The vehicle was proved out on Artemis I. It was a terrific mission. Really no issues with the boosters core stage, everything preformed as we expected it to. So there's really not a lot of change for Artemis II on the flight vehicle itself," John Shannon, vice president of Boeing's Exploration Systems, said during an Artemis panel at the 2025 SpaceCom convention in late January.
Where Boeing's latest issues emerged were with the Block 1B Exploration upper-stage of the rocket for Artemis IV and beyond. These issues were highlighted during an Office of Inspector General report in August last year. Besides lack of employee training, it was found that the Exploration Upper Stage was scheduled to be delivered to NASA back in early 2021. It is now projected that the development of SLS Block 1B will not be complete until 2027 at the earliest, anticipating keeping Boeing's employees working on the project on for several years more than planned.
It remains to be seen if this is the area where the approximately 400 employees will be cut, and if they are, what that will mean for Artemis overall.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [e-mail] or on X: @brookeofstars.