American space flight company, Astra has reduced its employment by 25% and shifting at least 50 engineers and manufacturing workers to concentrate on the development of spacecraft.
According to Astra, the reallocation and layoffs will likely cause a delay in the testing of the Launch System 2.0 and the under-construction Rocket 4.
The launch, sales, administrative, and “shared services” divisions for the company all employed the affected workers. Starting in the fourth quarter of current year, workforce reductions are anticipated to save the corporation more than $4 million every quarter.
The technology for the spaceship engines came from Astra’s purchase of the propulsion company Apollo Fusion, which concluded on the day Astra went public in July 2021.
By the end of March, according to Astra, it had secured 278 committed orders for its Astra Spacecraft Engines, which, after the engines are delivered, will total around $77 million in contracts. According to the business, a “substantial majority” of these orders will be fulfilled by the end of 2024.
This is not the first time the space company has seen significant layoffs. Astra reported in November of last year that it had laid off 16% of its workforce in order to concentrate on launch and spacecraft engines.
