NASA may lose close to 4,000 employees after latest deferred resignation round

NASA is facing a significant loss of employees, with around 4,000 staff members applying to leave the agency through a deferred resignation program. This comes after the Trump administration's efforts to gut the federal workforce, offering buyouts to government workers, including those at NASA. The first round of the deferred resignation program saw 870 NASA employees leave, and the latest round, which closed on July 25, saw an additional 3,000 employees apply to leave. This brings the total number of potential job losses to around 20% of NASA's workforce. The proposed budget cuts to NASA's science programs are a major concern, with a group of current and former NASA employees calling on the agency's Interim Administrator to reject these "harmful cuts." They argue that these policies "threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission." The article highlights the significant challenges NASA is facing, as it grapples with the potential loss of a substantial portion of its workforce and the threat of budget cuts that could have far-reaching consequences for the agency's ability to fulfill its scientific and exploration objectives.