NASA veterans say political pressure and slashed funding are destroying mankind's ability to go on future missions

Business Insider

2 days ago

A group of 287 current and former NASA employees said federal funding cuts will have dire consequences for NASA and the country as a whole.
In a Monday letter titled the "Voyager Declaration," addressed to NASA's interim administrator and US transportation secretary Sean Duffy, the group slammed the Trump administration's recent actions against the space agency.
"The last six months have seen rapid and wasteful changes which have undermined our mission and caused catastrophic impacts on NASA's workforce," the letter said.
The group said recent policies proposed by the administration threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, and weaken national security.
The letter to Duffy comes after the Trump administration axed three NASA departments as part of larger cuts carried out by the Department of Government Efficiency. Several NASA employees were also fired as a result of the DOGE cuts.
"Interim Administrator Duffy, we urge you not to implement the harmful cuts proposed by this administration, as they are not in the best interest of NASA," the letter read.
The group said that the funding cuts could compromise safety for future missions, which was "a dangerous turn away from the lessons learned following the Columbia disaster."
In 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it reentered Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.
The declaration added that cutting funding for missions and shutting them down was not reversible.
"Once operational spacecraft are decommissioned, they cannot be turned back on. Additionally, cancelling missions in development threatens to end the next generation of crucial observations," the group said in the document.
A total of 287 current and former NASA employees who signed the declaration, per its website.
In response to the letter, NASA's press secretary, Bethany Stevens, said to CNN that the agency would never compromise on safety.
"Any reduction — including our current voluntary reduction — will be designed to protect safety-critical roles," she said to CNN.
Employees of the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency released similar declarations slamming DOGE cuts. The cuts resulted in more than 200,000 workers across all federal agencies losing their jobs in March.