Workers who build the giant external tanks for the Space Shuttle will begin losing their jobs in October, it was announced on Friday. Lockheed Martin says all the 50 metre tanks needed for the 10 remaining Shuttle missions are already in production, so it is scaling back its 2,445 strong tank-building team (press release).

“This was the first official notification of a reduction in force that starts with a reduction in the fall and continues through the end of the shuttle program,” says the appropriately named company spokeswoman Marion LaNasa (Houston Chronicle). The cuts will impact employees in Huntsville, AL, the Kennedy Space Center, FL, and New Orleans, LA.

Although it is no real surprise that Shuttle contractors are being laid off, it does mark a point of no return for the iconic vessel. Political attempts to extend the number of remaining shuttle missions will be pointless if the workforce needed for those extensions is no longer there.

As Lockheed has a contract for the Orion shuttle-replacement craft it is possible that some staff could be relocated to this project. “We’ve been very successful in past [with relocating staff]. We intend to do everything we can,” says LaNasa (Calgary Herald).

Image: First Space Shuttle External Tank Rollout / NASA