America’s space program got a little smaller on Friday, July 25 –– smaller by 20%. According to The Hill, nearly 4,000 employees accepted the deferred resignation program. NASA was told back in May to reduce its budget by 24%.
Just last week, more than 350 employees signed a letter to NASA explaining what would happen to the program if cuts continued. Listed first was an emphasis on safety. The letter even mentioned catastrophic concerns like the Columbia disaster.
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“The culture of organizational silence promoted at NASA over the last six months already represents a dangerous turn away from the lessons learned following the Columbia disaster,” the letter said. “Changes to the system of Technical Authority, as suggested would be made in the June 25th NASA Town Hall, should be made only in the interests of improving safety, not in anticipation of future budget cuts.”
The letter also highlighted international missions, saying cuts would abandon America’s allies. “To date, 55 nations have signed on to the Artemis Accords, and withdrawing support from missions with our long-standing partners at the European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and others threatens NASA’s ability to lead the world in the future of space exploration.”
Following Friday’s exodus, a NASA spokesperson told NewsNation, “In the first round, about 870 employees have applied to leave and approximately another 3,000 workers did so in the second round — downsizing the workforce from 18,000 to around 14,000 people.”
According to NASA, this includes the 500 that were already eliminated due to attrition.
