The United States Space Agency, NASA, will lose about 3,900 employees under the broad effort of President Donald Trump to cut the Federal Labor Force, while prioritizing plans for the Mo -manned missions to the Moon and Mars.
In a statement sent by email, NASA said that around 3,000 employees participated in the second round of its deferred resignation program, which closed at night on Friday.
Combined with the 870 that joined the first round and the regular personnel exits, the agency’s official workforce will fall from more than 18,000 before Trump assumed the position in January to approximately 14,000, a decrease of more than 20 percent.
Those who leave NASA in the Deferred Resignation Program will be placed on administrative license to an agreed departure date. An agency spokesman said the figures could change slightly in the coming weeks.
“Security remains a priority for our agency, since we balance the need to become a more simplified and more efficient organization and work to ensure that we remain totally able to follow a golden era of exploration and innovation, even to the moon and Mars,” the agency said.
Earlier this year, the budget proposed by the NASA of the Trump administration made a return to the Moon and a trip to the front and center of Mars, reducing science and climate programs.
The White House says he wants to focus on “beating China back to the moon and putting the first human on Mars.”
China points to its first lunar crew landing by 2030, while the American program, called Artemis, has faced repeated delays.
NASA is still led by an interim administrator after the initial selection of the administration to lead the agency, the technological billionaire Jared Isaacman, backed by former Trump ELON Musk advisor, was finally rejected by the Republican President.
