20% of NASA Employees are Leaving

NASA employees who chose to leave accepted the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" (DRP) option, according to the space agency' news Chief Cheryl Warner. Around 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.

According to media reports, approximately 14,000 people would remain at NASA after the departure of some 3,870 people, though reports said that may change in the days and weeks ahead. NASA employees who chose to leave accepted the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" (DRP) option, according to the space agency's news Chief Cheryl Warner.

According to Warner, about 870 personnel applied to leave in the first round, and another 3,000 did so in the second before Friday's deadline. The 500 employees who were let go as a result of regular attrition in the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program were also included in the figure.

“Safety remains a top priority for our agency as we balance the need to become a more streamlined and more efficient organisation and work to ensure we remain fully capable of pursuing a Golden Era of exploration and innovation, including to the Moon and Mars,” a statement said.

Going by the numbers, NASA's staff is expected to shrink to about 14,000 by January next year. On Monday, some 362 signatories of a letter that included scientists and former and present NASA staff members released a statement denouncing budget cuts, grant cancellations, and what they called a "culture of organisational silence" that could endanger the safety of astronauts.

The letter titled "Voyager Declaration" was the latest in a series of statements criticising cuts and changes that have been proposed at other government agencies. In his 2026 federal budget proposal, Trump slashed NASA's science budget by almost half and reduced its overall funding by 24%.