Approximately 20% of staff at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, known as NASA, are expected to leave the space agency, a NASA email statement said Friday.
US media reports show that around 14,000 will remain in NASA after about 3,870 departures, but reports say it could change in the coming days and weeks.
According to Space Agency News Chief Sheryl Warner, NASA employees who chose to leave have accepted the Trump administration’s “postponed resignation” (DRP) option.
About 870 staff members applied for departure in the first round, with another 3,000 people doing so, second on Friday’s deadline.
The figure also included 500 employees who were let go as a result of the regular exhaustion of the Voluntary Early Retirement Bureau and the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program.
“Safety remains a top priority for our institutions to fully pursue a golden age of exploration and innovation, including the Moon and Mars, as safety needs to be a more streamlined and more efficient organization and effort,” the statement said.
By numbers, NASA staff is expected to shrink to around 14,000 by January next year.
On Monday, 362 signatories, including scientists and former and current NASA staff, issued a statement that could endanger the safety of astronauts: “budget cuts, cancellation of grants and what they called a “culture of organizational silence.”
The letter entitled “Voyager Declaration” was the latest in a series of statements criticizing the reductions and changes proposed by other government agencies.
With the 2026 federal budget proposal, Trump cut NASA’s scientific budget by almost half, cutting overall funding by 24%.