In 2025, more than 322,000 civil servants left jobs voluntarily or were dismissed out of a workforce of roughly 2.4 million. The 13% drop in staffing is the largest single-year decline since the end of World War II. In total, more than 5,000 people who were part of the federal space workforce left their positions. Senior executives with decades of experience retired alongside younger staffers whose posts were eliminated or who sought opportunities in the private sector or academia. SpaceNews correspondent Debra Werner spoke with eight of the remarkable people who recently left the federal workforce.
Versions of these interviews first appeared in the February 2026 issue of SpaceNews magazine.
Last position: NASA Associate Administrator for Technology, Policy and Strategy
Charity Weeden’s career has taken her through many aspects of the space sector. Over 23 years with the Royal Canadian Air Force, … Read More
Current position: NOAA Satellite and Information Systems Assistant Administrator (on administrative leave)
With a newly minted PhD, Stephen Volz began work at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 1986, where he was assigned to … Read More
Last position: Air Force Research Laboratory Rocket Propulsion Division chief
PhD chemist and nanomaterials expert Shawn Phillips spent 27 years at Edwards Air Force Base, where he started as a bench scientist … Read More
Last position: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Artificial Intelligence Research Lead
Before leaving NASA in January, spacecraft autonomy specialist Evana Gizzi was laying the groundwork for a NASA AI Innovation hub in Boston … Read More
Last position: NASA Associate Chief Scientist
Kartik Sheth managed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Spitzer Space Telescope. Sheth spent nearly nine years at Caltech … Read More
Last position: National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Chief Artificial Intelligence officer and Director of Digital Innovation
Mark Munsell’s first jobs were at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency and the Defense Mapping Agency. But he spent the bulk of his career at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency … Read More
Last position: Space Systems Command Space Systems Integration Office Director
As the inaugural director of the Space Systems Command’s Space Systems Integration Office, Claire Leon spent three years building an organization to enhance the resilience of space capabilities … Read More
Last position: NASA Senior Adviser
Phil McAlister joined NASA in 2005 and helped transform its approach to human spaceflight. He was a leading advocate for NASA … Read More
Abridged versions of these articles first appeared in the February 2026 issue of SpaceNews Magazine.
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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco.
Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient…
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