Astra lays off 25% of workforce, mostly in its rocket departments
Astra revealed yesterday that it has laid off 25% of its workforce, with most of those jobs coming from those working of developing its rocket, in order to focus the company on its rocket engine business, the only area it at present has a chance of earning revenue.
The reallocation and layoffs are expected to delay testing of the under-development Rocket 4 and Launch System 2.0, Astra said. The affected employees worked in the company’s launch, sales and administration and “shared services” departments. Workforce reductions are expected to save the company more than $4 million per quarter beginning in the fourth quarter of this year.
Astra, which is facing dwindling cash reserves, is no doubt looking for a way to further reduce operating expenses while also bolstering its spacecraft engine business, the only business unit that currently has a near-term chance of generating revenue. The spacecraft engine technology is sourced from Astra’s acquisition of propulsion developer Apollo Fusion, which closed the day Astra went public in July 2021.
Indeed, Astra said that it had closed 278 committed orders of the Astra Spacecraft Engine product through the end of March, which totals around $77 million in contracts once the engines are delivered. A “substantial majority” of these orders will be delivered through the end of 2024, the company said.
What these actions mean is that Astra is no longer a rocket company. It might return eventually, but for now there is little chance it will resume launches for years.
It is interesting that this action was revealed only one day after a class-action lawsuit was dismissed by investors against the company for claiming that it would soon be launching 300 times per year.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Astra revealed yesterday that it has laid off 25% of its workforce, with most of those jobs coming from those working of developing its rocket, in order to focus the company on its rocket engine business, the only area it at present has a chance of earning revenue.
The reallocation and layoffs are expected to delay testing of the under-development Rocket 4 and Launch System 2.0, Astra said. The affected employees worked in the company’s launch, sales and administration and “shared services” departments. Workforce reductions are expected to save the company more than $4 million per quarter beginning in the fourth quarter of this year.
Astra, which is facing dwindling cash reserves, is no doubt looking for a way to further reduce operating expenses while also bolstering its spacecraft engine business, the only business unit that currently has a near-term chance of generating revenue. The spacecraft engine technology is sourced from Astra’s acquisition of propulsion developer Apollo Fusion, which closed the day Astra went public in July 2021.
Indeed, Astra said that it had closed 278 committed orders of the Astra Spacecraft Engine product through the end of March, which totals around $77 million in contracts once the engines are delivered. A “substantial majority” of these orders will be delivered through the end of 2024, the company said.
What these actions mean is that Astra is no longer a rocket company. It might return eventually, but for now there is little chance it will resume launches for years.
It is interesting that this action was revealed only one day after a class-action lawsuit was dismissed by investors against the company for claiming that it would soon be launching 300 times per year.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
This makes me so very sad. I hate it when folks lose jobs.
And now that Astra has invested so much money in the production line, machines and technology? See company tour in the video. Everything for the scrap?
Astra’s Revolutionary Manufacturing Process | Rocket 4 Factory Tour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSaa5ZNMGYA
Well, at least they gave us one of the most entertaining launches ever when they had a partial engine failure and the thing wandered like a drunken sailor off the pad and out the (luckily left open fence gate), lazily hovering until its T/W rose above one and it was able to accelerate up. I suspect the GNC engineers who worked on that flight software were quickly snapped up by healthier companies.
They have A conference call tomorrow to discuss these events.
https://investor.astra.com/news-releases/news-release-details/astra-host-conference-call-august-7-2023
This is a full week before the quarterly results call, on the 14.
The timing makes me wonder if they will pull the trigger on the planned reverse stock split.
The powerslide was cool
“Everything for the scrap?” No, that’s the magic of bankruptcy, useful items are put to more productive use. Note – I am not saying that Astra is bankrupt, but selling assets off is a way to get cash and the new owners get a deal on (slightly) used tools , equipment and slaves…I mean employees.