United Space Alliance Says Atlantis Launch Would Be Unaffected

Add one more reason NASA hopes it is able to send Atlantis skyward by the end of this week. On Saturday, the union representing about 570 space shuttle program workers at Kennedy Space Center voted to strike as early as June 10.

The United Space Alliance workers belong to the International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers, which rejected a contract submitted by NASA early Saturday morning.

United Space Alliance spokeswoman Tracy Yates told The Associated Press the company "has a plan in place" should workers strike, and the planned June 8 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis would be unaffected.

"The bottom line is, a strike would not affect the next launch or the next one after that," Yates said. "We believe our offer was fair, competitive and responsive to the issues that were raised during the negotiation."

IAM member and former Local 2601 president Lynn Beattie called the company's offer "substandard."

Both sides have agreed to a five-day cooling-off period before talks resume.

FMI: www.unitedspacealliance.com/, www.goiam.org