Investing in Space: NASA’s months of reckoning

Published On: July 26, 2025

A group of 360 current and former NASA employees have penned a letter rebuking “rapid and wasteful changes” at the space agency.
Since the start of the year, NASA has been battling proposed budgetary cuts, high-profile exits, personnel reductions and the termination of research and exploration programs.
NASA is a critical player in the global space industry, both for its own achievements and for doling out substantial contracts to U.S. private space companies.

Delivered directly to your inbox, CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter provides an inside look at the space exploration and privatization industry.To receive upcoming versions, sign up.

With NBC 7, you can watch San Diego News for free, anywhere, at any time.

From its budget to its chain of command and possible program terminations, NASA has been enduring a storm on all fronts over the past six months. Uproar among the staff was an unavoidable part of the story.

With our News Headlines email, you can receive the best local San Diego stories every morning.

A statement denouncing “rapid and wasteful changes” in NASA’s budget, mission, and staffing has been written by 360 current and former employees.

“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 states, expressing concerns about the proposed funding and personnel reductions being “arbitrary and have been enacted in defiance of congressional appropriations law” and that “the consequences for the agency and the country alike are dire.”

The Voyager Declaration’s signatories call on the U.S. leadership to refrain from making “harmful” cuts and contest “non-strategic staffing reductions,” reducing research initiatives, and terminating contracts and involvement in foreign missions or assignments for which Congress has already appropriated funds. It’s a lengthy list of concerns made during a period of uncertainty at NASA, which is dealing with severe and well-documented staffing and funding cuts, as well as a larger White House effort to reduce the size of the government workforce.

Money Report

Why Americans love gated communities

What Europe’s response to a no-deal with Trump could look like

“NASA will always prioritize safety. Safety-critical responsibilities will be safeguarded by any cutbacks, including our current voluntary decrease,” NASA Spokesperson Bethany Stevens stated in an email. “In actuality, President Trump has shown a continued dedication to sharing our scientific accomplishments by proposing billions of dollars for NASA science. Instead of continuing to fund obsolete or low-priority missions, we are continuously assessing mission lifecycles to make sure NASA serves the American people.

NASA on Monday revealed the high-level departure of Makenzie Lystrup, who will leave her position as director of the Goddard Space Flight Center on August 1 after two years, adding to the chaos. According to NASA, the action was announced internally before the letter was even known. This is not the first top leadership departure from the agency in recent months; in June, Laurie Leshin resigned from her position as head of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At least 2,145 senior-level employees, many of whom served in core mission sets, could leave NASA, according to a Politico story at the beginning of the month.

After U.S. President Donald Trump’s first choice, tech billionaire and Elon Musk ally Jared Isaacman, was abruptly removed from consideration back in May, NASA—which is notable for both its own accomplishments and its significant contracts to the U.S. private space industry—has remained without long-term leadership throughout. Just last month, Trump’s transportation secretary Sean Duffy was named to fill the void as NASA’s acting administrator.

Money is on the line, of course. Last year, NASA secured a budget of $24.875 billion, which was 2% less than the 2023 money that was matched in 2025 and 8.5% less than what it had originally requested. Although the U.S. House of Appropriations subcommittee has resisted these cutbacks, the agency fought the prospect of a nearly 25% budget decrease in 2026 during the Trump administration. The Trump funding request of $18.8 billion, if approved, would have been the lowest NASA budget since the Apollo 11 mission, which was celebrated this week on July 20th and was the first crewed Moon landing in American history.

Trump said in a statement on Monday that his government is “building on the legacy of Apollo 11” and that he supports NASA’s efforts to “put the first boots on Mars and return Americans to the Moon, this time to stay.” Since taking office again in January, the U.S. president has made colonizing the red planet a top priority, mirroring the goals of his then-ally Musk. Although the two have since split up due to an explosive feud, the public is still enthralled with the idea of sending American astronauts to the Moon and Mars, with 67% and 65% of respondents, respectively, now supporting the idea, according to a CBS News/YouGov poll.

Illegal to implement NASA cuts before Congress gives green light to budget:

Democrats

Democrats on a House committee overlooking NASA’s budget have written a letter to Sean Duffy, the space agency’s new acting administrator, saying it would be “flatly illegal” to proceed with structure and workforce changes before NASA’s budget has been passed through Congress.

Reuters
South Korea seeks to build a lunar base by 2045

South Korea is looking to build a moon base within the next 20 years under the country’s new long-term national space exploration roadmap, the Korea AeroSpace Administration said. Seoul also intends to develop a next-generation lunar lander by 2040.

Yonhap
UK can make ‘major contribution’ to space sustainability, report says

Armed with significant investment and government support, the U.K. could become a “responsible, intelligent and independent leader” in space sustainability, a new report found, noting the country’s opportunities in space manufacturing, drug-making and stem cell harvest.

Physics World
How Star Trek helped name NASA’s space shuttles

NASA’s first space shuttle, dubbed Enterprise, was initially supposed to be called Constitution, before Star Trek fans intervened.

BBC Future
Orius builds gravity simulator to examine plant growth

French firm Orius has constructed Gravilab, a gravity simulator with two rotating axes, which will investigate how certain gravity environments impact plant growth.

Hortidaily
Most Americans favor going to Mars, poll finds

A CBS News/YouGov poll has uncovered that 65% of Americans support the idea of U.S. astronauts going to Mars, while two thirds of those surveyed also back sending U.S. cosmonauts to explore the Moon again.

CBS News

Linde to ramp up U.S. air gas capacity to serve space sector

Industrial gas supplier Linde will build a new air separation unit in Texas to increase its capacity and support the U.S. space industry, in line with two agreements to supply liquid oxygen and nitrogen for rocket take-offs.

Gas World
Golden Dome chief outlines steps to deliver system

General Michael Guetlein has laid out the plans to bring about the U.S.’ ambitious Golden Dome missile intercepting system within three years.

Space News

Rocket Lab stock rally continues

Rocket Lab’s U.S.-listed stock gained further ground, with Bank of America and Citi penning high price targets amid favorable aerospace and defense sector market conditions.

AInvest
ArianeGroup, Nikon to back production of ultra-large-scale components

ArianeGroup and 3D metal printer manufacturer Nikon have partnered up to support output of ultra-large-scale components above 1 cubic meter through additive manufacturing.

Nikon
SpaceX plans to detonate rockets over Hawaii’s waters

The Federal Aviation Administration has given Elon Musk’s SpaceX permission to detonate rocket ships over the protected waters of the Mokumanamana island, which is holy to indigenous people, The Guardian reports

The Guardian

July 25

Russia’s Roscosmos to launch Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M out of Siberia, carrying two satellites for the Ionosfera constellation
July 25

Arianespace’s Vega-C to take off with CO3D quartet of Earth observations satellites out of the French Guiana
July 26

Gilmour Space’s Eris to launch on test flight out of Queensland
July 27

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s Long March 6 to take off out of Xinzhou
July 30

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s GSLV-F16 will depart with the ISRO-NASA joint satellite, NISAR, out of Sriharikota