NASA cuts deal, but losing 5% of workforce as DOGE opens up hood

ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA had cut a deal that may stave off sweeping layoffs seen across other federal agencies, but still will see about 900 less employees through a buyout plan, according to an agency statement.

The statement released Thursday said about 5% of the roughly 18,000 NASA employees accepted the resignation offer of President Donald Trump’s Deferred Resignation Program.

While many federal agencies have seen probationary employees fired outright in recent weeks, NASA’s statement said its probationary employees would be allowed to enter the program, and that only a small portion of the 5% who took the deal were probationary.

The deal was made working with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which has been heading up the rounds of layoffs across the federal government.

“After working with OPM and a careful evaluation of our workforce and mission requirements, probationary separations will be performance-based or voluntary in accordance with agency policy,” the statement reads. “The agency will continue to monitor all employee performances and take swift action as appropriate with any issues, ensuring American citizens have an excellent and efficient workforce at NASA.”

Florida’s Kennedy Space Center has more than 2,100 civil employees working for NASA, but was not able to specify where job losses would occur.

Acting Administrator Janet Petro last week sent an email to employees stating the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had begun looking at NASA, just as it had made forays into other federal agencies since Trump returned to office.

“DOGE is onsite at NASA. Please contact DOGE for additional information,” according to an emailed statement from NASA’s Office of Communications News Chief.

Elon Musk has been at the forefront of DOGE activities, but his relationship with NASA has raised concerns with some members in Congress.

“The recklessness and contempt with which DOGE personnel are rampaging through the federal government threatens a wide range of security interests, privacy controls, and government services,” reads a letter to Petro sent by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and Rep. Valerie P. Foushee, the ranking member of that committee’s Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.

“Their egregious and seemingly unlawful acts compromise our national security and put Americans at risk. But the risk to NASA is unique in certain respects, largely due to the vast conflicts-of-interest that the leader of DOGE, Elon Musk, has with NASA,” the letter continued.

The letter stated Musk’s SpaceX is NASA’s second-largest contractor with more than $2 billion in agency contracts while SpaceX executive Michael Altenhofen recently joined NASA as a “senior advisor to the NASA Administrator.”

“As Ranking Members, we intend to closely monitor the broad potential for conflicts-of-interest between DOGE, SpaceX and NASA,” the letter reads. “This issue will be the subject of ongoing oversight. But our immediate concern is to ensure that the integrity of NASA’s secure systems, including any classified data managed or accessed by the agency, is being preserved.”

The letter also warned that any breach of classified information could have grave consequences for NASA and the country, and that SpaceX could gain access to proprietary data of its competitors.

Musk’s companies stand to gain if decisions are made that steer funds away from contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin, all of whom along with SpaceX have a major stake in NASA’s current moon-to-Mars plans.

“The possibility that such proprietary data could be obtained by the CEO of SpaceX without regard to NASA procurement rules and regulations risks compromising the integrity of NASA procurement decisions in the future,” the letter reads.

It also warned of Musk’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and business interests with China.

“Given the manner in which DOGE has been operating – with no notification, no transparency, and no public explanation for many of its activities – we are compelled to seek clarification directly from the agency to establish conclusively that classified information remains secure and security protocols have not, and will not, be violated,” the letter reads.

The letter compelled Petro to answer questions by Feb. 13, and one day later, she notified NASA employees that DOGE was at the agency.

The loss of NASA jobs could add to bad employment news the Space Coast has seen in the last six months.

Boeing already announced 141 layoffs amid its Florida operations that were part of intentions announced in 2024 to lay off 10% of about 170,000 employees nationwide.

That was compounded with the potential for 400 more layoffs that could potentially be in play if NASA shifts its Artemis program plans to do away with the Space Launch System rocket on future missions. Boeing is the prime contractor on that rocket’s core stage.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin, which saw the first launch of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral in January, announced it would lay off more than 1,000 of its employees nationwide.

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