Boeing Expects to Lay Off 400 Workers from Moon Project
In 2019, the cost estimate for the program – dubbed Project Artemis – was suggested by NASA to be between $20 and $30 billion. And while that's a big number, it actually pales in comparison to the revised figure that came two years later when the agency's Office of Inspector General suggested the true cost would be $93 billion – and that was just through 2025.
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Speaking of 2025, here we are – and the updates taking place over the past few weeks don't seem to bode well for Project Artemis.
A new report from Bloomberg says the program may be 'poised for a shakeup' and they are looking at recent comments from Boeing to support that theory.
Boeing revealed that it was looking to reduce staffing on its Space Launch System (or, SLS) team by 400 in the next few months, which amounts to more than a third of the staff assigned to this effort. They say it's 'to align with revisions to the Artemis program and cost expectations.'
And there's a lot to unpack there. From a cost perspective, the SLS rocket alone is expected to cost nearly $24 billion through year-end and test and development delays mean that the original timeline has been blown.
In 2022, the SLS Artemis I sent an uncrewed flight around the Moon, and a crewed launch of Artemis II is expected for April 2026 and a lunar landing for 2027 – a far cry from the pledge ex-NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine made in 2019 that Artemis was going to the Moon in 2024, 'whatever that takes."
The other major factor is SpaceX founder – and Boeing space race competitor – Elon Musk and his influence on the Trump administration. Late last year, Musk called the Artemis architecture 'extremely inefficient,' adding that 'something entirely new is needed.'
Will President Trump defend Boeing's role in helping Americans reach the lunar surface, or has he moved on?
Skeptics point to the commander-in-chief's comments during his inauguration speech, where he mentioned planting 'the stars and stripes on the planet Mars' – leaving the Moon out of it entirely.
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