NASA is about to lose lots of people.
Practically 4,000 company staff have chosen to simply accept the Trump administration‘s “deferred resignation” possibility, lowering the company’s workforce by greater than 20%.
These numbers come courtesy of NASA Information Chief Cheryl Warner, who shared them in an e mail to reporters on Friday night (July 25).
The deferred resignation program (DRP) — which locations individuals on paid administrative go away till an agreed-upon departure date — is a part of the White Home’s effort to scale back spending throughout authorities.
To date, NASA staff have had two probabilities to use to the DRP. Throughout the first part, which featured a February utility deadline, about 870 staff, or 4.8% of the workforce, mentioned sure, in keeping with Warner. About 3,000 — 16.4% of the company’s workers — did so in the course of the second part, whose deadline handed simply earlier than midnight EDT on Friday, she added. That latter quantity contains of us who opted in to 2 comparable packages, the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program.
The numbers may change a bit within the coming weeks, Warner burdened. For instance, some folks could withdraw their resignations, and others could have their purposes rejected.
NASA has misplaced about 500 folks through regular attrition as properly since Trump took workplace in January. Counting these losses, NASA’s workforce will shrink to about 14,000 by Jan. 9, 2026, when the staff who mentioned sure in the course of the DRP’s second part will come off the rolls, Warner mentioned within the assertion.
Based mostly on these numbers, the DRP and associated efforts will probably be chargeable for a roughly 21% minimize to NASA’s workforce.
The buyouts are a part of a concerted White Home effort to shrink NASA spending. For instance, in his 2026 federal price range request, Trump proposed cutting the agency’s overall funding by 24% and slashing the company’s science price range by practically half.
Such strikes have sparked protests by scientists, engineers and common of us who care about area science and exploration. For instance, practically 300 NASA scientists not too long ago signed the “Voyager Declaration,” warning that the price range cuts, if enacted, would have devastating results on American science and will affect astronaut security.