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OGDEN — The phase-out of the space shuttle for a new generation of space vehicles means hundreds of layoffs in Utah.
ATK Space Systems, a business unit of Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems Inc., told employees in a memo Thursday that as many as 450 engineers and factory workers will lose jobs in October.
The company also blames the layoffs on the expected end of production for the government's Minuteman III ballistic missile program.
The jobs will be lost at ATK headquarters in Magna and at manufacturing operations at Clearfield and Promontory.
It's the second round of layoffs this year. The company let about 300 Utah workers go in March.
Blake Larson, president of ATK Space Systems, said it will offer transfers to some workers. The company also is seeking more defense or NASA contract work that could bring back some workers.
On Monday, ATK unveiled the main rocket that will launch the new Orion space craft into orbit. A test firing is planned for later this summer in Promontory, 65 miles north of Salt Lake City.
The space shuttles will be permanently retired by the end of next year, when construction of the international space station is finished.
Officials say the first manned flight of the Orion craft could take place in 2015, ferrying crews to the space station initially then ultimately taking crews back to the moon.
In Utah, ATK is making the first-stage rocket booster for the Orion — a capsule being manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp.
Boeing Co. is making a second-stage, liquid-fueled rocket. ATK's rocket is called the Ares 1.
The whole craft and missions takes the name Constellation program.
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Information from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net
