The Boeing Co. has announced a new round of layoffs in Huntsville, in part blaming changes to its contract with NASA's moon rocket program.
Boeing plans to lay off 71 employees, the company said in a notice to the Alabama Department of Commerce this week.
The defense contractor was already in the midst of reducing its workforce, including in Alabama. But today, the company told AL.com that changes to its contract with NASA to develop the Space Launch System program sparked the need for some of the 71 layoffs.
"As Boeing and NASA continue to finalize contract revisions for Boeing's work on the Space Launch System program, we have successfully mitigated a majority of the previously announced workforce reductions," a Boeing spokesperson said in an email to AL.com. "While Boeing is committed to supporting NASA's Artemis missions and delivering capabilities for the core stages and Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), workforce adjustments are still necessary to drive efficiency and cost effectiveness on the program as portions of Boeing's SLS work matures from development to production."
While NASA has not yet publicly cancelled the program, its future -- amid political pressure -- appears to be uncertain. NASA launched SLS in 2022 as part of the Artemis moon landing program.
The layoffs, scheduled for April 18, were announced in a WARN notice, dated Feb. 18 and made public Wednesday.
Federal law requires large employers to file a public WARN notice with the state 60 days in advance of mass layoffs or plant closures.
This move comes as space industry representatives have urged President Donald Trump to cancel or phase out the $24 billion Space Launch System program, Reuters reported earlier this month. Elon Musk, the tech titan, founder of SpaceX, and adviser to President Trump and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, has been critical of the SLS program.
The Space Launch System program employs 28,000 people across 44 states, primarily in Alabama and Texas. There are 14,000 SLS employees in Alabama alone, Reuters reported.
"The SLS will be fine," Alabama U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville said in an interview with Reuters last week. "I know that there's a lot -- because of Elon Musk involved in the DOGE situation -- there's a lot of rumors out there on that, but I got full confidence on the SLS and the future for them."
Meanwhile, up to 10% of NASA employees, caught up in federal buyouts and the firing of probationary workers, are now out of work nationwide, ABC News reported. The Marshall Space Flight Center, which is one of the larger NASA field centers that employs thousands in Huntsville, told AL.com that it's too soon to say how their workforce is impacted.
The Boeing spokesperson told AL.com on Wednesday that the company will "redeploy teammates where possible" but will still lay off "fewer than 200" employees total, not just in Alabama. Initially, the company anticipated 400 layoffs.
Boeing was already in the middle of major layoffs. The company, based in Arlington, Virginia, announced in October that it would lay off 10% of its workforce - nearly 17,000 employees nationally - including executives, managers and other workers.
"We continue to adjust our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities," the Boeing spokesperson said. "We are committed to ensuring our employees have support during this challenging time."
These layoffs add to a total of nearly 360 employees in Huntsville impacted by layoffs in the past year, following cuts announced in April and November 2024.
Eligible employees will receive severance pay, career transition services and subsidized health care benefits for up to three months after they leave the company, according to Boeing.
Before the layoffs, the company reported an employee base of 3,300 in the Huntsville metro.