JUPITER, FL -- Jet engine-maker Pratt and Whitney confirms another round of layoffs at its facility in Jupiter.
Forty-five workers were given notice at three facilities around the country yesterday.
Seventeen of those workers are from our area.
The company says it's cutting the number of people working on NASA's space shuttle program, and that additional layoffs are likely as the space agency's aging orbiter fleet is retired.
Company spokesman Bryan Kidder says work on the JX2 project has helped them hang onto some employee's longer. That project provides engines for NASA's Ares 1-X rocket which had a successful launch this week.
"Our initial plan was to shift people over," says Kidder "but we weren't able to do so."
Kidder says they've seen about 200 employees retire this year, allowing Pratt to hand-out fewer pink slips than they might have otherwise.
The company says employees who were let go will receive severance pay, as well as assistance finding another job.
