Boeing Co will lay off about 510 employees in its Space Exploration division as the United States' space shuttle program draws to a close.

There will no material impact on the company as a result of the job cuts, a spokesman for Boeing's Space Exploration division told Reuters.

The last workday for workers is scheduled to be August 5, pending completion of the final shuttle mission, the company said in a statement.

The United States is retiring its three-ship fleet due to high operating costs and to free up funds to develop new spacecraft that can travel beyond the space station's 220-mile-high (346-km-high) orbit.

Earlier this week, space shuttle Endeavour touched down at its Florida home base, ending the next-to-last mission in the space shuttle program.

Shuttle Atlantis is slated to launch on July 8 on NASA's final planned shuttle mission.

Shares of the Chicago-based Boeing closed at $74.84 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

Jobs Down