Over 2,000 senior-ranking employees at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are set to resign amid a push to lay off staff.

At least 2,145 employees will leave the agency, POLITICO noted.

The news follows President Trump appointing Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy as interim NASA administrator.

President Trump Appoints Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to Lead In BIG New Role

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The 2,145 employees are those in GS-13 to GS-15 positions — senior-level government ranks that are typically reserved for those with specialized skills or management responsibilities. The losses are particularly concentrated at higher levels, with 875 GS-15 employees set to leave, according to the documents.

Those 2,145 employees, in turn, make up the bulk of the 2,694 civil staff who have agreed to leave NASA under a slate of offers that fall within broader administration efforts to trim the federal workforce, according to the documents. NASA has offered staff early retirement, buyouts and deferred resignations.

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Many of those leaving also serve in NASA’s core mission sets, according to the documents. Those leaving include 1,818 staff serving in mission areas like science or human space flight, with the rest performing mission support roles like IT, facilities management or finance.

“You’re losing the managerial and core technical expertise of the agency,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at The Planetary Society. “What’s the strategy and what do we hope to achieve here?”

The departures follow a proposed White House budget for 2026 that would slash NASA’s funding by 25 percent and cut over 5,000 staff. The cuts, if enacted by Congress, would force the agency to operate with the smallest budget and staff since the early 1960s.

"NASA remains committed to our mission as we work within a more prioritized budget," agency spokesperson Bethany Stevens told Reuters.

"Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let’s launch," Duffy said upon accepting the NASA role.

Reuters noted:

Under President Donald Trump's administration, in recent months the U.S. space industry and NASA's workforce of 18,000 have been whipsawed by looming layoffs and proposed budget cuts that would cancel dozens of science programs, while the U.S. space agency remains without a confirmed administrator.

Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, Musk ally and billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, appeared to be an early casualty of Musk's rift with the president when the White House abruptly removed him from consideration last month, denying Musk his pick to lead the space agency.

 

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