Nasa Loses Another Senior Official As Tension Grows About The Agency's Future

The head of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center announced her resignation Monday, marking yet different high-profile departure arsenic questions loom astir nan agency’s fund and future.

Makenzie Lystrup, who has served arsenic head of nan halfway successful Maryland since April 2023, will time off nan agency connected Aug. 1, according to a NASA statement. Goddard oversees a number of cardinal NASA missions, including nan Hubble Space Telescope, nan Solar Dynamics Observatory and nan OSIRIS-REx ngo that collected samples from an asteroid.

Lystrup’s resignation comes little than 2 months aft Laurie Leshin stepped down arsenic head of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory successful Pasadena, California.

Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, head of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, during a sheet chat astatine nan 2024 Artemis Suppliers Conference, successful Washington, D.C.Joel Kowsky / NASA

The departures are playing retired arsenic NASA and different authorities agencies contend pinch significant cuts to backing and personnel, arsenic portion of a broader push to shrink nan size of nan national workforce. Questions are swirling internally astatine NASA and on Capitol Hill about really nan abstraction agency tin execute its activity pinch acold less unit and why specified cuts are moving up earlier Congress has authorized nan agency’s budget.

Meanwhile, much than 2,000 senior-level labor are group to time off NASA arsenic portion of an effort to trim nan agency’s workforce, arsenic was first reported by Politico. Those see group successful elder positions of guidance and individuals pinch specialized skills, Politico reported, raising concerns astir a “brain drain” astatine nan abstraction agency.

Workers astatine nan abstraction agency person until Friday to judge “deferred resignations,” buyouts aliases early status offers.

President Donald Trump’s projected fund for 2026 would slash astir 25%, aliases much than $6 billion, from NASA’s budget. The steepest cuts would travel retired of nan agency’s abstraction science, Earth subject and ngo support divisions, according to nan fund blueprint.

If enacted by Congress, nan fund would besides shape retired NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, which nan agency was processing to return astronauts to nan moon.

In consequence to nan fund blueprint, much than 280 existent and erstwhile NASA labor signed a missive to Sean Duffy, NASA’s interim administrator, stating that nan Trump administration’s caller policies “have aliases frighten to discarded nationalist resources, discuss quality safety, weaken nationalist security, and undermine nan halfway NASA mission.”

The letter, known arsenic nan Voyager Declaration, said nan changes person caused “catastrophic impacts” to nan agency’s workforce, and person “prioritized governmental momentum complete quality safety, technological advancement, and businesslike usage of nationalist resources.”

Before NASA’s anterior acting administrator Janet Petro was replaced by Duffy, labor pressed her to explicate really nan fund cuts and restructuring underway served nan champion interests of nan abstraction agency, according to soul correspondence publication by NBC.

It’s not clear if Lystrup and Leshin’s departures are related to nan ongoing turmoil astatine NASA and different authorities agencies. In NASA’s announcement astir Leshin’s resignation, it said she was stepping down “for individual reasons.”

The agency did not supply a logic for Lystrup’s resignation. In an soul email obtained by NBC News, Lystrup said she leaves pinch “confidence” successful nan Goddard’s activity squad “and each of you who will style nan adjacent section of this center.”

“I americium honored to person been portion of this unthinkable travel pinch you,” she wrote successful nan email. “It has been my privilege.”

NASA said Monday that Cynthia Simmons, who presently serves arsenic Goddard's lawman director, will return complete arsenic acting halfway head successful August.