NASA lays off top scientist and deputies as it implements DOGE’s job cuts that will see hundreds leave space agency

NASA has begun its layoffs at the behest of the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

In an email sent out on Monday and shared on social media, Acting Administrator Janet Petro said the agency’s reductions were phased and occur in advance of a reorganization plan.

“We will close NASA's Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, the Office of the Chief Scientist, and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility branch in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, along with reducing their workforce,” said Petro.

She said that those who had been impacted by the changes were “valued members” of NASA, recognizing that their work had helped contribute to recent successes.

“I know this news is difficult and may affect us all differently. Change of this magnitude is never easy, but our strength comes from our shared commitment to our mission and each other. I remain grateful for your professionalism and resilience, and I encourage you to support one another as we move forward. Embrace the Challenge,” Petro wrote.

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The announcement comes amid several ambitious projects at NASA, including the Artemis mission plans to send humans back to the moon and a launch of two science missions is slated for Monday evening.

Strong reaction to the decisions began to pour in on social media.

“These are talented people who believe in the job they are doing, and firing them is absolutely NOT the way to help our country,” Johns Hopkins University Assistant Professor Dr. Meredith MacGregor wrote on the platform BlueSky.

“NASA is small, but it is arguably the most legendary and globally beloved agency in American history. Its gutting has begun, and the cuts to come are so massive that we won't recognize it in a year,” Dr. Grant Tremblay, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said on X. “Many of these cuts are likely to be essentially irreversible, point of no return...“

“Because a bunch of white guys without a science or technology strategy is a great way for #NASA to succeed,” said planetary scientist Bob Pappalardo, who worked on the Europa Clipper mission.

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“Just giving away space preeminence hand over fist,” wrote Dr. Jessie Christiansen, the chief scientist of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute.

Last month, the White House is believed to have made a last-minute decision to pause mass layoffs at NASA. There were fears that 10 percent of the agency’s entire workforce could be let go, but those plans were stalled. They were projected to shrink NASA’s workforce to the lowest level since 1961.

Employees at the Johnson Space Center were told they would be exempt from the “impending layoff plan,” according to an email reviewed by the Houston Chronicle. Anonymous senior NASA sources told Space News that facilities such as the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama were also excluded.

The agency is made up of just under 18,000 employees.