{"id":138746,"date":"2025-11-14T03:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/138746\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T03:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:18:09","slug":"nasa-insiders-say-theyre-now-under-constant-attack-by-trumps-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/138746\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Insiders Say They\u2019re Now Under \u201cConstant Attack\u201d by Trump\u2019s White House"},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Center has been one of the preeminent institutions specializing in growing humanity\u2019s understanding of space. Sadly, those days might be far behind it, as the Trump administration grows increasingly belligerent in its attempts to force draconian cuts<\/a> to NASA\u2019s operating budget \u2014 a campaign that\u2019s already included building closures<\/a>, mass layoffs<\/a>, and junking specialized scientific equipment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, a new NPR investigation<\/a> shows that for NASA employees still going about their daily work, the White House\u2019s daily efforts are going much farther, devolving into what staffers describe as a \u201ccampaign of destruction\u201d from the \u201chighest levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey McGrath, a NASA astrophysicist, said that after the Trump administration cut Goddard center staff by nearly half, new figureheads were shuffled in, who immediately set about destroying NASA\u2019s working culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t had a real moment of reprieve because it feels like we\u2019re constantly being attacked pretty much on every front that we can think of,\u201d McGrath told NPR. He described a work environment punctuated by information blackouts, random personnel changes, labs and equipment being moved without notice, and errant building closures, all of which makes \u201clittle sense\u201d for the work typically done at Goddard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve even put chains and locks on the doors to prevent anyone from even entering the building at this point,\u201d McGrath said.<\/p>\n

A research analyst named Monica Gorman told NPR she\u2019s worried the administration is trying to paralyze the entire Goddard campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they do that, there are science and engineering capabilities that the United States, as a whole, is going to lose,\u201d Gorman told the broadcaster. \u201cAnd it would cost, I don\u2019t even know how many millions and millions of dollars and a really long time if we ever decided we wanted to bring that back.\u201d<\/p>\n

One example NPR highlights is the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (RST), which would feature imaging cameras 100 times larger than those currently on the Hubble Space Telescope, which launched in 1990.<\/p>\n

According to workers interviewed, many of the engineers working on the RST have been randomly reassigned or simply ousted in the middle of the job. Some, running specialty labs for the RST, had been forced to randomly upend their workshop and move to a different location, slowing work and compromising equipment.<\/p>\n

All in all, it\u2019s a sad time for NASA, which has historically been one of the most popular government agencies<\/a>. With over three years remaining in Trump\u2019s second term, it feels like salvaging the agency could take years \u2014 or decades \u2014 after he\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

More on NASA: White House Mocks NASA Commitment to Sending Women and Minorities to Moon\u2026 Which Was Made by the First Trump Administration
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