The signatories of the “Voyager Declaration” warned the space agency’s leadership about the consequences of major budget cuts that would halt many science missions.
A public letter from NASA employees on Monday urges leaders of the space agency not to carry out deep cuts sought by the Trump administration.
“We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety, scientific advancement and efficient use of public resources,” the employees wrote in the letter. It is addressed to Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, whom President Trump appointed this month as acting NASA administrator.
Cuts to NASA programs have been arbitrary and in defiance of priorities set by Congress, the NASA employees said. “The consequences for the agency and the country alike are dire,” they wrote.
NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NASA letter follows similar letters of criticism by federal employees at the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the N.I.H. director, said he welcomed respectful dissent, but the E.P.A. placed 144 employees who signed that agency’s letter on leave.
“We’re all scared that we’re going to get laid off,” said Monica Gorman, an operations research analyst at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “We’re scared of retaliation. We huddle in the bathroom. We go to the bathroom to talk to each other, and look under the stalls to make sure that no one else is there before we talk.”
Ms. Gorman is one of 287 current and former NASA employees who signed the letter, although more than half did so anonymously. More than 15,000 people work at the space agency. Prominent scientists outside of NASA, including 20 Nobel Prize winners, also offered their names in support.
Read the NASA ‘Voyager Declaration’ Letter of Dissent
Hundreds of current and ex-employees of NASA signed a formal dissent letter protesting the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the agency.