Bigelow lays off half its workforce
This isn’t confirmed, but a twitter comment via Trent Waddington suggests that Bigelow Aerospace has laid off half its workforce. (A hat tip also to Clark Lindsey.)
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This isn’t confirmed, but a twitter comment via Trent Waddington suggests that Bigelow Aerospace has laid off half its workforce. (A hat tip also to Clark Lindsey.)
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Seems to have been confirmed by 51 other suddenly ex employees.
Bigelow bought a team that was developing inflatable spacestation/space ship modules for a canceled NASA project, and built up some very good spaceship /station modules for sale or lease. Effectively real estate development for space. Problem is he bet that by the time his stations are ready, a commercial passenger and cargo launch would be in operation. Non is, and he (likely because of that) isn’t able to sign up the big numbers of customers he was hoping for (at one point he was talking about contracting options for up to 24, 6 person, launches per year – dwarfing all other maned operations in history. Now hes talking much smaller – and launch systems developers are no longer seeing him as a market worth developing a ship for.
Same chicken and egg thing again I guess. no ones going to develop a lot of systems for space with no reliable affordable way to get there; and no ones able to build and operate a reliable affordable way to get there without a market for it.
That is of course the whole problem with so called ‘Commercial Space’.
A lot of wishful thinking and very little reality.
By the way I am and long have been a big supporter of inflatable modules.
If this story is true, I am very sorry.
Unfortunately it was predictable.
It is true, I am one of the 70 employees that were let go. At my last count there were approximately 105 employees working there including the security staff. Security makes up about 15 of those. I won’t say what my job title was. In reality I believe (whether Mr. Bigelow is aware of this or not) they were much farther from a BA 330 launch than any one outside the company realizes. Key designs like deployable (properly sized) solar arrays, hatches, airlocks and a functional eclss were far from complete. With the turnover ratio of qualified engineers at BA, these design short comings would have eventually come to light. For a professional engineer BA was hardly the ideal place of employment, I won’t get in to specifics here but anybody with ties to BA knows what I am referring to. Well; just a little rant, the rumors are true. Most of the employees there were model makers, that was really the heart of the business, creating Hollywood style third scale models of future space debris… : )