NASA facing a major exodus? Space agency to lose most experienced employees due to..., 2145 senior staff members, 875 top-level workers planning to...

India.com

12-07-2025

NASA is about to lose a large number of its most experienced employees. According to an internal report shared by Politico , 2,145 senior staff members in important roles including 875 top-level GS-15 workers are planning to leave. In total, 2,694 NASA employees have chosen to take early retirement, accept buyout offers, or delay their resignations. These people hold important technical and leadership positions, and their exit could have a big impact on NASA's work.
This is all part of a larger effort to reduce the size of the workforce. But with so many skilled people leaving at once, it's raising concerns about how NASA will manage its future projects. Is NASA facing a major exodus?
NASA is seeing a huge wave of resignations, with 1,818 employees from its main missions in science and human spaceflight planning to leave. Many others from important support roles like IT and finance are also going. Experts are worried this means NASA is losing a big part of its technical and leadership strength.
Casey Dreier, a space policy expert from The Planetary Society, warned that the agency is losing the people who keep its core work running, and raised serious questions about whether this is the right move.
These exits are happening at the same time as a proposed 25 per cent budget cut in 2026 from the White House. That plan could reduce NASA's total workforce by over 5,000 employees, bringing it down to its smallest size since the early 1960s.
All 10 of NASA's regional centers will be hit, including: Goddard Space Flight Center – losing 607 staff
Johnson Space Center – 366 staff
Kennedy Space Center – 311 staff
NASA Headquarters – 307 staff
Langley Research Center – 281 staff
Marshall Space Flight Center – 279 staff
Glenn Research Center – 191 staff A big loss of experience at NASA
The recent wave of staff exits at NASA is causing serious concern, especially because many of those leaving are key to future space missions, including plans to return to the Moon by 2027 and future Mars exploration.
Some job cuts, like those at the Goddard Space Flight Center, match the White House's cost-cutting goals. But others are taking away vital knowledge and skills that NASA depends on. One outgoing employee, who asked to stay anonymous, said the agency is facing 'a lot of experience drain' and that this could disrupt operations.
Casey Dreier from The Planetary Society said: 'You're losing the managerial and core technical expertise of the agency. What's the strategy, and what do we hope to achieve here?'
One former NASA staff member said they chose to resign partly because they were worried about the future. They mentioned fear over major budget cuts and the fact that NASA still doesn't have a Senate-confirmed administrator, saying, 'Things just sound like it's going to get worse.'
So far, only half of the planned 5,000 job cuts have been reached through early retirements and voluntary exits. If enough people don't leave through this program which ends July 25 the agency may be forced to make involuntary job cuts.