posted 06-09-2025 05:46 PM               

NASA is continuing its phased approach to streamline its workforce and reduce its overall headcount.

All NASA civil servants received notification Monday [June 9, 2025] the agency is offering a Deferred Resignation Program, Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, and/or Voluntary Separation Incentive Program. This affords employees the opportunity to depart while ensuring the agency remains fully capable to pursue its mission. Eligibility for these programs will vary depending on each employee's individual situation.

posted 07-26-2025 09:28 AM               

NASA's Deferred Resignation Program, Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, and Voluntary Separation Incentive Program closed at 11:59 p.m. EDT Friday. Safety 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.

Numbers are as follows:

• Deferred Resignation Program #1: about 4.8% of the workforce (about 870 individuals)

• Deferred Resignation Program #2 (including VERA and VSIP, in addition to DRP): about 16.4% of the workforce, approximately 3,000 employees

• NASA's expected remaining civil servant workforce following both DRP programs, as well as normal attrition (about 500) over the same time period: about 14,000

posted 01-05-2026 05:51 PM               

For NASA, the $24.438 billion is undoubtedly a great relief. It’s a cut of only $400 million from the $24.838 billion the agency received in FY2025 and also demonstrates continued bipartisan support for NASA’s activities. The Trump Administration’s proposal spared only the Moon-to-Mars program. The Science and Space Technology portfolios were to be cut by about 50 percent each, Aeronautics by about one-third, and Space Operations (including the International Space Station) by more than 25 percent.

Instead, the conference report or “joint explanatory statement” supports NASA’s programs across the board. ...

Overall, the agreement represents mostly a status quo for NASA. President Trump’s early embrace of Elon Musk’s enthusiasm to send people to Mars seems to have faded along with their close relationship and perhaps a recognition of the hurdles involved in doing that, while the drumbeat of getting Americans back on the Moon before Chinese taikonauts arrives takes center stage with the Artemis program. The SLS rocket has solid support despite the Administration’s efforts to end it after the Artemis III lunar landing mission. SLS was created by the 2010 NASA Authorization Act and has enjoyed unwavering support in Congress ever since. NASA’s science, aeronautics, and space technology programs as well as the International Space Station also have long-standing congressional support.