Greater than 20% of NASA’s workforce requests to depart company
Practically 4,000 staff, or greater than 20% of NASA’s workforce, have utilized to depart the company, NASA confirmed to CBS Information Friday.
About 3,870 staff have utilized to depart NASA over two rounds by way of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program, NASA disclosed.
The deadline for purposes to this system is midnight Friday.
With these deferred resignations, NASA’s civil servant workforce would shrink from about 18,000 to 14,000 personnel. This determine additionally consists of about 500 staff who had been misplaced by way of regular attrition, the company stated.
“Security stays a prime precedence for our company as we steadiness the necessity to change into a extra streamlined and extra environment friendly group and work to make sure we stay absolutely able to pursuing a Golden Period of exploration and innovation, together with to the Moon and Mars,” NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner stated in a press release.
Based on NASA, about 870 staff utilized to depart in the course of the first spherical of the Deferred Resignation Program, and about 3,000 staff in the course of the second spherical.
The deferred resignation program was a buyout program launched throughout the federal authorities by the White Home’s Division of Authorities Effectivity on the onset of the Trump administration in an effort to slash prices and cut back the scale of the federal workforce.
A White Home price range proposal issued in Could would see NASA’s funding minimize by about 25% for fiscal 12 months 2026, from about $24 billion to $18 billion.
NASA has additionally been roiled by a management disaster in current months. In December, President Trump nominated billionaire personal astronaut Jared Isaacman, a buddy of former DOGE head Elon Musk, to function NASA’s subsequent administrator. Musk’s SpaceX has a number of NASA contracts.
Nonetheless, in late Could, Mr. Trump pulled Isaacman’s nomination simply forward of the Senate affirmation vote, which was adopted days later by a public fallout between Mr. Trump and Musk.
Earlier this month, the president introduced that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy would briefly lead the company.
contributed to this report.
