Leadership turns to voluntary exits to avoid layoffs, but experts warn of long-term impact on missions and innovation

The layoffs comes amid rising concerns about the potential impact on NASA’s mission readiness and safety standards.

NASA Faces Major Talent Exodus as 3,870 Staff Opt for Voluntary Resignation - Nearly 3,870 NASA employees have opted for voluntary resignation as part of a federal workforce

Makenzie Lystrup to step down on August 1 as Trump administration proposes 25% cut to NASA's overall budget, affecting agency's science division - Anadolu Ajansı

They’re attacking the future of NASA science activities with this proposed 47 percent budget cut.” That candid evaluation by Casey Dreier, director of space policy at The Planetary Society, sums up the trepidation coursing through the US space agency as it prepares for a flood of voluntary retirements.

The departures come in the wake of a proposed White House budget for 2026 that would cut NASA’s funding by 25 percent and reduce its workforce by over 5,000 employees. If approved by Congress, these cuts would leave the agency operating with its smallest budget and staff levels since the early 1960s, POLITICO noted.

At least 2,145 senior-ranking NASA employees are set to leave under a push to shed staff, according to documents obtained by POLITICO — potentially spelling trouble for White House space policy and depriving the agency of decades of experience.

NASA is seeing a huge wave of resignations, with 1,818 employees from its main missions in science and human spaceflight planning to leave.

More than 280 current and former employees across all NASA centers and directorates decry “rapid and wasteful changes.”

The four people at the helm of America's space agency held a town hall meeting with employees Wednesday, fielding questions about downsizing, layoffs, and proposed budget cuts that threaten to undermine NASA's mission and prestige.