Nearly 4,000 NASA employees have chosen to accept the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" option, reducing the agency's workforce by more than 20%.

"Though the House and Senate have much still to debate on full-year appropriations, this much is clear: Congress is rejecting the full extent of the unprecedented, unstrategic, and wasteful cuts to NASA and NASA science proposed by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget," the Planetary Society said in a statement.

AS NASA moves towards looming budget cuts, the agency still lacks a permanent leader. Here's why the search for administrator is taking so long.

A letter released Monday from more than 150 NASA employees urged agency officials not to make deep budgetary cuts proposed by the White House, saying they would have “dire” consequences. “We are

NASA faces a proposed $6 billion agency-wide funding cut by the Trump administration, including a 47% reduction of science missions and activities.

Space-agency declaration of dissent and NSF petition join similar documents from staff at the EPA and the NIH.

Instead, based on the budget process to date and statements from the White House, they view the memos as an effort by the Trump administration to move forward with canceling as many NASA science missions as possible before Congress passes a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, 2026. This fiscal year begins on October 1, three months from today.

NASA employees signed a letter detailing the destructive decisions that threaten to endanger lives and harm the public good.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is expected to cut at least 20 per cent of its workforce, in a second major staff cut to hit the US space agency under the Trump administration. This leaves the employee count at around 14,000.

Workers from within NASA will protest the space agency leadership's "preemptive over-compliance" of the White House's proposed budget, gutting science and eliminating jobs.