Sierra Space, a key player in the space industry, recently made headlines when it laid off several hundred employees and contractors weeks before shipping its first Dream Chaser spaceplane for pre-launch testing at NASA’s Armstrong facility in Ohio.
According to Sierra Space, about 165 employees were let go, but the number of contractors affected was not disclosed. Former employees of the Colorado-based company told CNBC that the layoffs included a significant number of contractors, with the total number of personnel affected reaching into the hundreds. Sierra Space had about 2,000 employees before the reduction in its workforce.
The laid-off employees were given two weeks of paid non-working notice, as well as four weeks of severance pay and health care benefits through the end of the year.
Sierra Space’s spokesperson acknowledged that the company had seen a surge in hiring this year to complete work on its Dream Chaser spacecraft, and the layoffs began soon after the first Dream Chaser, named Tenacity, was shipped for pre-launch testing at NASA’s Armstrong facility in Ohio. Sierra Space is focused on flying the long-awaited first mission of the Dream Chaser spaceplane, but it is also realigning to focus on the operations phase of the spacecraft’s first mission, as well as on classified national security work.
In addition, Sierra Space recently lost two senior executives: COO Jeff Babione, who retired, and Senior Vice President of Space Destinations Neeraj Gupta. The company stated that these departures were unrelated to the layoffs.
Despite the recent layoffs, Sierra Space remains a valuable player in the sector and is pushing ahead with its plans for the Dream Chaser spaceplane, which has been in development for years. With the first launch of the Dream Chaser expected to take place on United Launch Alliance’s second Vulcan mission, Sierra Space is continuing to work on fulfilling its contracts to fly cargo missions to and from the International Space Station.