McDonnell Douglas’ Space Unit Is Expanding : Aerospace: The Huntington Beach-based subsidiary is a bright spot for the retrenching company. Future growth is tied to the space station.

While other units of aerospace and defense giant McDonnell Douglas Corp. are cutting back, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. is growing.

Employment at the Huntington Beach-based space center division has increased from about 1,600 to 1,900 this year, officials say. If Congress decides to go all out in funding the space station Freedom, the unit could add up to 1,000 more workers at its Kennedy Space Center facility in the next three to five years.

The optimistic employment report came Friday from Ken Francis, president of the space systems division. He spoke at the dedication of an 82,000-square-foot, $9-million building at the Kennedy Space Center facility.

“We’re looking forward to real good growth in this area--if Congress gets it act together,” Francis said.

The space systems unit is a bright spot for the St. Louis-based parent.

In July, the company announced plans to cut up to 11% of its 130,000-member work force. It said declining aerospace business and dwindling government contracts left it with no choice but to cut costs by $700 million.

McDonnell Douglas has contracts to process payloads for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Defense Department. It also launches commercial Delta rockets from Cape Canaveral and has other space projects in Brevard County.

The space division’s workload has picked up this year because employees work on payloads months or even years ahead of scheduled launches.

As for the future, company officials are watching funding decisions on the space station. A compromise between the House and Senate cut $600 million from the station budget, leaving NASA with $1.9 billion for the project in the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

The economic health of space companies hinges on the space station budget, said Bob Allen, executive director of the Space Coast Development Commission in Titusville. The space station program would provide work for the space shuttle for years.

“If the space station doesn’t get funded, we’re not going to be flying shuttles,” Allen said. “I believe that the space station is still a very viable project.”