Hundreds of Layoffs Planned at Vandenberg Shuttle Facility

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE —  Hundreds of civilian workers face layoffs at the West Coast shuttle launch site as the Air Force again has reduced the complex’s readiness status, officials said Thursday.

The recently completed spaceport will be put on “minimum caretaker status” in October, said Capt. John Sullivan, spokesman for the Air Force Space and Missile Test Organization.

That is a step down from the current “operational caretaker status,” a reduction from normal readiness ordered after the shuttle Challenger exploded on takeoff last Jan. 28 from Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

No Layoffs Until October

One military source said the newest layoffs will reduce the number of workers from about 850 to 400 or 500, but no layoffs will be made before October, Sullivan said.

Military shuttle missions were to have been launched from Vandenberg, which is about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Maj. Gen. Donald Aldridge, senior commander at Vandenberg, told the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce on Thursday that the shuttle still could be launched in 1992 if the Air Force decided to do so and got sufficient money to reactivate the launch pad starting in 1989.

However, another announcement from the Air Force increased doubts that a shuttle would ever be launched from Vandenberg. The Air Force said it was seeking $30 million in 1989 funding as start-up costs for a new Titan 4 launch complex at Vandenberg, in order to double the planned launch rate of the Titans capable of carrying shuttle-sized cargo.

Plan Four Flights a Year

The new Air Force budget request for a Titan launch complex would allow Vandenberg to handle four Titan 4 flights a year, the same number that has been planned for the shuttle.