More than 20% of NASA employees opt to leave agency: US media
CBS News and other media have reported that 3,870 staff, or over 20 percent of NASA's workforce, have applied to leave. The agency employs about 18,000 people.
The reports said the deadline for applications for the deferred resignation program was on Friday.
The Trump administration says NASA will face a 24-percent year-on-year reduction in the budget for the fiscal year that begins in October.
About 360 current and former employees of the agency published an open letter on Monday last week to voice their opposition to the spending cuts.
The "Voyager Declaration" says, "The last six months have seen rapid and wasteful changes which have undermined our mission and caused catastrophic impacts on NASA's workforce."
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