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We dissent to changes to NASA’s Technical Authority capacities that are driven by anything other than safety and mission assurance. The culture of organizational silence promoted at NASA over the last six months already represents a dangerous turn away from the lessons learned following the Columbia disaster. Changes to the system of Technical Authority, as suggested would be made in the June 25th NASA Town Hall, should be made only in the interests of improving safety, not in anticipation of future budget cuts.
We dissent to the closing out of missions for which Congress has appropriated funding because it represents a permanent loss of capability to the United States both in space and on Earth. Once operational spacecraft are decommissioned, they cannot be turned back on. Additionally, cancelling missions in development threatens to end the next generation of crucial observations.
We dissent to implementing indiscriminate cuts to NASA science and aeronautics research because this will leave the American people without the unique public good that NASA provides. Basic research in space science, aeronautics, and the stewardship of the Earth are inherently governmental functions that cannot and will not be taken up by the private sector. Furthermore, NASA has a nearly threefold return on investment in economic activity, and supports national security by ensuring the United States maintains its lead in science and technology. We dissent to NASA’s non-strategic staffing reductions because they will jeopardize NASA’s core mission. Thousands of NASA civil servant employees have already been terminated, resigned or retired early, taking with them highly specialized, irreplaceable knowledge crucial to carrying out NASA’s mission.
We dissent to canceling NASA participation in international missions because in doing so, NASA is abandoning America’s allies. To date, 55 nations have signed on to the Artemis Accords, and withdrawing support from missions with our long-standing partners at the European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and others threatens NASA’s ability to lead the world in the future of space exploration. We dissent to the termination of NASA contracts and grants for reasons unrelated to performance because it weakens state and local economies across the country. Capriciously terminating contracts and grants reduces the number of private sector jobs associated with the space economy and discourages private entrepreneurship by negating competitive grant selection processes.
We dissent to the elimination of programs aimed at developing and supporting NASA’s workforce because it undermines the agency’s power to innovate for the benefit of humanity. Cuts to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programming that have already been implemented directly conflict with the agency’s core value of inclusion. Eliminating the Office of STEM Engagement would deliver a critical blow to the nation’s future space economy workforce.
Who We Are
The signatories of this letter are current and former NASA employees from every NASA center and mission directorate. In addition to named signatories, we include anonymous signatories who share our concerns but choose not to be identified due to the culture of fear of retaliation cultivated by this administration. As a group of individuals from a diversity of nationalities, races, abilities, sexualities, and gender identities, we stand unified in support of NASA’s core values: safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion.
