NASA is facing a massive exodus of talent, with the agency confirming that roughly 3,000 more employees have applied to leave under a controversial buyout program. This brings the total number of departing staff to nearly 4,000—a staggering 20% of the space agency’s entire workforce.
The Trump administration first introduced the “deferred resignation” program in January as part of its aggressive effort to reduce the federal workforce. The effort was guided by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an initiative once led by Elon Musk.
The program enables employees to resign while continuing to receive pay and benefits for a specified period. An initial round saw 870 NASA employees leave, but this second wave, which closed on Friday, shows the number of people wanting out is accelerating.
This brain drain comes at a terrible time for NASA. The agency is already grappling with proposed budget cuts so severe that they could devastate its science programs and result in thousands of additional job losses. The situation has become so dire that a group of current and former NASA employees recently sent a letter to the agency’s interim administrator, Sean Duffy, begging him to reject the “harmful cuts.”
The letter warns that the administration’s policies “threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission.” The departure of thousands of its most experienced people only makes those fears more acute.
