NASA experts are concerned that the impending budget reductions could jeopardize mission safety and potentially lead to incidents like the 1986 Challenger disaster. Kyle Helson, a research scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland, emphasized the lack of strategic planning behind the cuts, raising worries among employees.
Helson is among the signatories of an open letter, co-signed by 361 current and former NASA staff, expressing alarm over policies that they believe could endanger human safety, weaken national security, and compromise the core NASA mission.
Contradicting these concerns, NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens assured that safety would never be compromised, stating that any budget reductions, including the voluntary reduction currently in place, would prioritize safety-critical roles.
$6B US in proposed cuts
President Donald Trump is advocating for a 25% budget cut, approximately $6 billion US ($8.22 billion Cdn), for NASA’s overall budget, with a 50% cut proposed for the scientific research division.
While Stevens highlighted Trump’s significant funding proposals for NASA science, Helson criticized the administration’s approach as misleading, likening it to downplaying the severity of a missing bicycle wheel.
Congress has yet to approve Trump’s proposed cuts, but leaked audio from a recent NASA town hall revealed that senior officials plan to proceed with the cuts despite the lack of congressional approval.
Democratic leaders Zoe Lofgren and Valerie P. Foushee have condemned the premature implementation of the cuts, labeling it as “flatly illegal” and “offensive to our constitutional system.”
The bipartisan committee overseeing NASA’s budget has urged NASA to refrain from implementing the proposed cuts.
Fears of reprisal
The Voyager Declaration, an open letter addressed to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, interim NASA administrator appointed by Trump, outlines concerns that NASA’s current trajectory could result in mission cancellations, loss of scientific data, abandonment of international partnerships, program cancellations, staff reductions, and compromised safety measures.
Recent suspensions at other agencies for signing similar open letters have instilled fear among NASA employees, with many signatories choosing to remain anonymous. Helson, one of the few signatories willing to speak publicly, expressed his concerns, emphasizing the need to advocate for his fearful colleagues.
NASA’s response to queries regarding potential retaliation against signatories remains unanswered.
The signatories of the letter consider it an act of “Formal Dissent,” citing a NASA policy that empowers employees to challenge decisions they perceive as detrimental to NASA’s interests.
According to the New York Times, this policy was established following the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters to encourage open communication and prevent future tragedies.
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