BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A round of layoffs hit Kennedy Space Center's largest contractor, United Space Alliance, Friday. Over 258 people who were employed by the United Space Alliance are out of work.

Many people volunteered for the layoffs, about 93 percent of the more than 258 laid off did so voluntarily and in many cases with a severance package.

It's a relatively small number compared to what's coming down the road. The first round of layoffs didn't just target one specific sector of the shuttle workforce.

A spokesperson for the United Space Alliance says the job cuts were made company-wide in line with the staffing they believe they need to finish the shuttle flights scheduled for 2010.

"We are secure in the fact that the work force we've got will successfully fly out the remaining six missions that are on the manifest," Tracy Yates of the United Space Alliance said.

The layoffs represent a fraction of NASA's largest contractor. USA employs more than 5,600 people in Florida.

Tracy Yates says a large majority of the cuts were made with volunteers who took advantage of severance packages and retirement deals.

More downsizing is inevitable after Atlantis becomes the first shuttle to be retired sometime in 2010, but when the pink slips will fly again is still in the air.

"Assuming nothing changes we don't plan at this time any further reductions. But if the manifest changes and there are a myriad of factors that could do all that, we will have to adapt accordingly," Yates said.

Some estimates suggest as many as 10,000 people in and around the space center could lose their jobs over the next two years making this first round look minuscule.

Nineteen more layoffs at United Space Alliance take effect next week.

The United Launch Alliance, which launches rockets, announced nine layoffs and 70 security officers were laid off at Cape Canaveral air station.

Also, 500 workers who prepared the shuttle solid rocket boosters in Utah are being laid off next week.