NASA’s first moon landing since Apollo 17 was initially scheduled for late 2024. However, development delays with both Boeing and SpaceX have pushed Artemis III back to 2027. Boeing is now preparing to layoff half its Artemis Program workforce as signs point toward the Trump administration not renewing the aerospace giant’s contract. Boeing’s ousting would be significantly due to the direct meddling of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who vocally despises the 21st-century Moon program.
Boeing produces the core stage of the Space Launch System, the rocket that would deliver NASA’s Artemis astronauts to lunar orbit if fully developed. Boeing held an emergency all-hands meeting with its SLS workforce of 800 employees last Friday, Ars Technica reports. David Dutcher, company vice president and SLS program manager, said that Boeing could lose its contract in March and 400 people would be laid off as a result. A Boeing spokesperson told the Register:
“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. 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.”
If the SLS gets canceled, NASA will be without a launch vehicle to get to the Moon. Cynics would say that Musk is creating a void for SpaceX to fill and continue to pick up lucrative government contracts. However, SpaceX doesn’t produce a rocket that meets the Artemis program’s needs. Development issues with SpaceX’s Starship have caused NASA to consider dropping the lunar landing aspect of Artemis III.
While critics will justify the SLS cancellation with the billions of dollars in cost overruns, Artemis was already operating on a shoestring budget. Over 14 years so far, the new moon program has spent over $93 billion. When adjusted for inflation, the Apollo program spent $182 billion over its entire 14-year existence. Artemis also has a fraction of Apollo’s workforce. If Musk wants to talk about wasteful spending, he should lower his right arm and look at the Starship rockets exploding over the Caribbean.
