NASA workforce cuts raise fears about safety for space missions

NASA and SpaceX are scheduled to launch another crew of astronauts to the International Space Station on Thursday in the sort of mission that has given the U.S. space program an aura of triumph. But this time around it comes amid deep turmoil at the space agency, which has seen 4,000 employees decide to leave as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to cut federal spending.

The exodus, which amounts to about a fifth of the workforce, has shaken officials at NASA and stoked concerns about its ability to fly astronauts safely at a time when the agency has not had a permanent leader since January, according to interviews with current and former space agency officials.

Last week, in an open letter of “formal dissent” to Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, the acting NASA administrator, some 300 current and former NASA officials noted their concern about the cuts to the agency and policies that “have or threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security and undermine the core NASA mission.”

They lamented the loss of talented employees leaving NASA through a voluntary separation program and “taking with them highly specialized, irreplaceable knowledge crucial to carrying out NASA’s mission.”

They said that the direction NASA is heading in ignores the lessons learned from the Columbia disaster, when the space shuttle came apart, killing all seven astronauts on board.

Despite the tumult, NASA officials said they remain focused on safety and that flying crews is the agency’s top priority. “NASA will never compromise on safety,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said in a statement. “Any reductions - including our current voluntary reduction - will be designed to protect safety-critical roles.”

In a recent briefing, NASA’s human spaceflight division leaders acknowledged the upheaval and the toll it is taking, but said they remained dedicated to safety.

“We are laser focused on getting the work accomplished for the flight, and we try to put the distractions aside,” Steve Stich, the manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, said in a briefing earlier this month. “Our team is incredibly professional, incredibly dedicated.”

He said the changes at NASA have been a challenge that agency leaders have attempted to address head on.

“We talk to our team about what’s going on, the criticality of their work,” he said. “They know their work really affects the safety of the crew and the success of these missions. I think that’s what’s important to them. That’s what keeps them coming to work every day, and that’s what drives them.”

NASA is being led on an interim basis by Duffy, who is also serving as the secretary of the Transportation Department. He was appointed to lead NASA after the White House withdrew the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who had charted two private spaceflight missions with SpaceX. Given Congress’s schedule, NASA may not have a permanent administrator for several more months.

During Trump’s first term, the Artemis program, NASA’s effort to return astronauts to the lunar surface, was a priority for the White House. As head of the National Space Council, then-Vice President Mike Pence injected a sense of urgency into the effort, exhorting NASA and its contractors to move faster in what he cast as a race against China.

Now, however, the Space Council has been disbanded. Artemis has suffered delays and setbacks, such as repeated explosions of uncrewed test flights of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, which NASA intends to use to land astronauts on the lunar surface. The Orion spacecraft, made by Lockheed Martin, which would ferry them between Earth and the moon, has also suffered problems with its heat shield, forcing the space agency to fly a different trajectory that puts less stress on the capsule.

As a result of these setbacks, NASA isn’t scheduled to land astronauts on the lunar surface until 2027, and even that timeline is ambitious.

“It’s a concerning time for the agency, and a lot of folks in the space industry are confused,” said Mary Guenther, head of space policy at the Progressive Policy Institute, a D.C.-based think tank. “The first [Trump] administration made space a major priority, and they achieved a great many things. Now it seems that space hasn’t just fallen down on the priority list, it’s fallen off it.”

NASA officials said, however, that space is indeed a priority. And Duffy, a former member of Congress, has vowed to fulfill a pledge born in Trump’s first administration - to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since the Apollo era as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

“We’re not just going back to the moon - we’re going to stay,” he said in a statement last week, commemorating the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. “And from there, we set our sights on Mars. This will be a golden age of innovation, national purpose and American dominance.”

There is concern, however, that given the delays to the Artemis program, China may be able to send astronauts to the lunar surface before the United States can return.

And the cuts to the agency could have consequences that last years, as key leaders head for the exit and others remain fearful about their future.

Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut and a professor at the University of Southern California, said he was worried that NASA employees would be less inclined to raise safety concerns at a time when many are feeling targeted.

“When you have an environment of fear and people are worried about losing their job, it’s not conducive to honest safety reporting,” he said. “Even in good times it’s hard to get people to raise their hand with a dissenting opinion and speak up. It takes courage to do that.”

Another former astronaut, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, expressed similar concerns. “People at NASA are distracted from the top down. It’s scary,” the person said. “It’s the first time we’re going to the moon in 50 years, and you have a workforce that’s not in the game. How could they be 100 percent focused on the mission?”

Reisman said he was less concerned about the upcoming crew launches, which are carried out by SpaceX. “My concern is a long-term affect,” he said. “With diminished capabilities on NASA’s side I’m worried there’s less oversight and insight, and there could be consequences down the road.”

Thursday’s launch, SpaceX’s 11th crew rotation launch to the International Space Station, is scheduled for 12:09 p.m. from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On board will be NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, as well as Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian Oleg Platonov.