Over 280 current and former NASA employees issued a formal open letter to NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy on Monday, expressing strong opposition to the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts, staffing reductions and policy changes, reported Xinhua.
The letter, titled "The Voyager Declaration," warned that "rapid and wasteful changes" over the past six months "have or threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission."
Duffy, also the U.S. secretary of transportation since January, was appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 9 to serve as acting NASA administrator.
The budget cuts are "arbitrary," said the letter, warning that thousands of NASA civil servants have already been laid off, resigned, or retired early — resulting in the loss of specialized expertise critical to the agency's mission.
The employees voiced concern over reductions in NASA science and aeronautics research, the decommissioning of operational spacecraft, and withdrawal from international collaborations with key partners.
"We urge you not to implement the harmful cuts proposed by this administration, as they are not in the best interest of NASA," the letter stated.
Recently, similar statements have emerged from employees at other U.S. federal agencies, including the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, concerning the Trump administration's actions on their respective agencies.
On International Moon Day and U.S. National Space Exploration Day, both celebrated every year on July 20, NASA employees from the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association took to the streets of Washington, D.C. to express their opposition to potential cuts to science programs and staffing, outlined in the White House's 2026 budget proposal, according to media reports.
- NASA
- Budget cuts
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
