(Bloomberg) — NASA will lose roughly 3,870 employees through a voluntary resignation program, part of a broad push from President Donald Trump\u2019s administration to reduce the federal workforce. <\/p>\n
The numbers are subject to change as NASA reviews applications, including if an employee withdraws from the program or a resignation isn\u2019t approved, the US space agency said in a statement on Friday.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u201cSafety remains a top priority for our agency as we balance the need to become a more streamlined and more efficient organization and work to ensure we remain fully capable of pursuing a Golden Era of exploration and innovation, including to the Moon and Mars,\u201d NASA said. <\/p>\n
NASA has offered employees two separate opportunities in 2025 to leave through the government\u2019s Deferred Resignation Program. The agency said its expected remaining civil servant workforce would be about 14,000 people, following both resignation programs, as well as normal attrition of about 500 people over the same time period. <\/p>\n
The first round came during the start of the Trump administration when federal workers received emails offering them the opportunity to take a buyout, an effort spearheaded by the Elon Musk-helmed Department of Government Efficiency. About 870 people, or 4.8% of the NASA workforce, took the offer then. <\/p>\n
NASA initiated its own second round of deferred resignation beginning in early June, with a deadline to opt in by July 25. About 3,000 personnel, or 16.4% of the workforce, took it up, the agency said Friday. <\/p>\n
Executives at the space agency, who have been working to reduce headcount to comply with the Trump administration\u2019s goal of shrinking the federal workforce, have spearheaded deferred resignation as a way to avoid layoffs. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason we are doing this is to minimize any involuntary workforce reductions in the future,\u201d NASA\u2019s former acting administrator Janet Petro said during an agency town hall on June 25, according to an audio recording obtained by Bloomberg. \u201cThat is our whole goal, minimizing that.\u201d <\/p>\n
NASA had sought a \u201cblanket waiver\u201d in February to save all of the agency\u2019s probationary employees from layoffs. <\/p>\n
The prospect of a mass exodus of employees from NASA has raised alarm bells within the industry and at the agency, with some experts arguing that the the cuts will cause NASA to lose some of its best talent.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
In a letter to newly appointed NASA interim administrator Sean Duffy titled \u201cThe Voyager Declaration,\u201d hundreds of former and current employees warned Duffy, who is also the head of the Transportation Department, that workforce reductions could jeopardize the safety and efficiency of operations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThousands of NASA civil servant employees have already been terminated, resigned or retired early, taking with them highly specialized, irreplaceable knowledge crucial to carrying out NASA\u2019s mission,\u201d they wrote in the letter to Duffy. <\/p>\n