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Administrator Updates

Janet Petro’s Embrace The Challenge Update 27 June 2025: “Voluntary Workforce Shaping”

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
June 27, 2025
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Janet Petro’s Embrace The Challenge Update 27 June 2025: “Voluntary Workforce Shaping”
Embrace The Challenge

Thank you to everyone who tuned in for this week’s agency town hall. More than 32,000 of you watched through townhall.nasa.gov – and that doesn’t include those who gathered in auditoriums and conference rooms to watch together. A big thanks to our Office of the Chief Information Officer for putting key measures in place to ensure we stayed online and uninterrupted from start to finish.  Keith’s note: here is the audio from the Town hall event – note that although the topic of RIF was frequently asked, Janet Petro makes zero mention of that word or statements that she and her staff made in this sanitized version of the event. Instead it is all about “voluntary workforce shaping”.

We covered a lot of ground and tackled some tough topics. I want to reiterate a few key points here: 

  • Reorganizations are a process – and will take time. I expect to decide on the top-level structure and begin engaging our stakeholders in the coming weeks. That structure will only go down to the center level initially. What happens below that will take shape over time, and I ask for your patience as this reshaping effort takes place – it will take time before we know how this impacts individuals.  We are reorganizing to become the most efficient and effective organization we can be – aligned to the mission we are charged with and the resources we expect to receive.   
  • We are offering a limited window of voluntary workforce shaping tools to avoid any involuntary separations. For civil servants, the opt-in period for the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP), Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA), and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) is open through July 25. We do not plan to offer these programs again. With our budget trending downward and reorganization ahead, these voluntary options offer an off-ramp for those who want to take it. 
  • The President’s FY 2026 Budget Request for NASA is NASA’s budget request – and while it’s still working through Congress, we have to begin preparing to align our workforce and resources now to meet the mission priorities it outlines. 

I know many of you are facing deeply personal decisions in the weeks ahead – and I understand how heavy that can feel. Those feelings are valid. It’s also understandable to want more clarity. The information that’s available now – whether it’s the proposed budget or the resources through the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer – is the information we have. Sometimes, we’re asked to make decisions without the full data set, and I encourage you to lean on your support system, talk things through, and make the best choice for you. 

Even in the midst of this, we have a mission to carry out, and I continue to be impressed by what this team gets done. A few recent highlights: 

  • NASA and Roscosmos recently agreed to lower the pressure in the transfer tunnel of the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module following repair work, enabling us to proceed with Axiom Mission 4. The mission launched early Wednesday, carrying former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson alongside astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary. This milestone reflects the strength of NASA’s international partnerships and commercial capabilities, with U.S. industry helping expand opportunity and access to space on a global scale. 
  • NASA’s System-Wide Safety project is working with aviation safety company ResilienX, which recently demonstrated how NASA-developed tools that assess risk – like those predicting navigation performance and airspace congestion – are being integrated into their commercial systems. This collaboration already is leading to direct tech transfer to ResilienX and indirect benefits for partners, such as the U.S. Air Force, advancing safety in future airspace operations. 
  • Teams at Kennedy Space Center continued fueling the Orion spacecraft for Artemis II inside the Multi-Payload Processing Facility, and the Artemis II astronauts recently joined the launch team for a variety of launch-day scenarios. These integrated exercises help ensure both crew and ground teams are fully prepared for their mission around the Moon. 
  • Technicians have installed and integrated two critical instruments, CoDICE and SWAPI, onto our IMAP spacecraft as of June 23, ahead of its targeted fall launch. IMAP will monitor space weather and map the heliosphere from a vantage point near L1, providing nearrealtime data to map the entire heliosphere, as well as study the physics of how particles gain energy. 
  • NASA’s TechLeap Prize selected teams from industry and academia to develop solutions for critical NASA and commercial space industry needs in the Space Technology Payload Challenge, such as producing consumables from Martian regolith (University of Texas, San Antonio) and in-space biomanufacturing systems for long-duration human spaceflight (Ambrosia Space). With the opportunity for flight testing with commercial providers, the challenge enables quicker paths to the flight heritage needed for future space missions, achieving efficient and impactful technology advancements.  
  • NASA’s Office of Communications received an Emmy Award this week at the 46th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Live News Special – recognizing our broadcast coverage of the 2024 total solar eclipse. This honor reflects the incredible talent and coordination behind the scenes: twelve telescope feeds, 11 correspondents across 2,000 miles, nine watch parties, and live video from the International Space Station, a high-altitude research aircraft, and Wallops Flight Facility – all routed through multiple NASA control rooms and brought together at our broadcast hub at Glenn Research Center. It was a remarkable feat of engineering and storytelling and a proud moment for the entire agency. 

Finally, I’ve asked officials in charge to implement a “quiet week” for civil servants starting Monday, June 30. While mission-critical work will continue, I’m encouraging teams to scale back on meetings where possible, provided it doesn’t disrupt operational or organizational priorities. If you’re considering taking leave, please coordinate with your supervisor. 

Thank you for all that you do, and have a great weekend. 

Embrace the Challenge, 

Janet 

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

8 responses to “Janet Petro’s Embrace The Challenge Update 27 June 2025: “Voluntary Workforce Shaping””

  1. Johnhouboltsmyspiritanimal says:
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    So they are highly encouraging folks to retire, DRP or leave but won’t let anyone know the reorganization plans until close to the end of the window to apply? If they wanted to get folks to really go then publish the RIF plan, the reorg plan and any other details so folks understand if they are safe or on the chopping block. With all the uncertainty guess the bearings will continue until we hit the target workforce numbers

  2. Dude says:
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    People should know that there is no version of the BIll, either the one that passed through the house, nor the one that is being proposed by the Senate, in which the cuts in the president’s budget proposal were enacted. The house bill that passed had a ~3 percent cut, The Senate proposal had a 10 billion dollar increase over last years budget. A caveat is that they will need to put in specific line items for the areas where there are more draconian cuts, like how much they need to spend on science o prevent OMB from enacting their plan. However, this act that NASA HQ is putting on that it is inevitable. It is certainly not and there is clear support for it not happening on both sides of the isle. It feels almost criminal to behave they way they are.

    • Keith Cowing says:
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      Yes, White House budget requests morph – often substantially – after Congress does their job. But this time even a large change will still result in the wanton destruction of American scientific research – and of NASA in particular. NASA HQ is doing exactly what the WH – OMB – has ordered them to do. They can’t depart from that instruction. They simply do not care what Congress thinks or says. They will implement much of the change before there is even a real budget. But by then it will be too late for most employees and programs. So get used to this. Embrace The Challenge.

      • Dude says:
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        It’s not just that presidential budget requests morph and change. It’s that they have zero legal authority unless given it by congress or give OMB room to interpret the budget themselves by leaving out specific appropriations. Actions that enact a presidential budget request without that process are, in fact, illegal. I know that illegal actions have been occurring all over agencies with little to no recourse anyway and regardless of the outcome a lot the damage will have been done, but there are only so many actions they can actually take that border on the grey edge of criminality. Hence the giant push to cripple thy self. Eventually, even if the damage is done, the other shoe will drop and I wonder how much protection HQ will receive from the Whitehouse. My guess is none.

        • Keith Cowing says:
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          Newsflash: the current administration does not care. The Leadership at NASA (and other agencies) has been ordered to begin implementing the full spectrum of changes included in the WH FY 2026 budget request regardless of what Congress is or is not doing. By the time there is a real budget many things will have bene deleted, people fired, and budgets slashed. It will be very hard to reverse this.

          • Dude says:
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            So what are they waiting for? Why are they trying to make everyone quit instead of just doing what they already did at USAID, NOAA, VA, IRS? They could’ve done it already. last month, two months ago. It’s not new. The admin might not care, but HQ should because those actions would constitute criminal charges. No one’s gone to prison for violating the Anti-Deficiency Act before, but these are different times. Under 31 U.S.C. § 1350, willfully acting on an unapproved budget is criminal. And there’s no immunity for your position, if you sign off on it, you’re personally liable. Speculating about whether the cuts are inevitable is a waste of energy. What’s not is making sure HQ knows they won’t get to skate. The White House won’t protect them. After Trump’s first term, over ten people went to prison for doing what they were told. If this country doesn’t totally collapse into autocracy, someone’s gonna take the fall.

          • Keith Cowing says:
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            Not inclined to waste a lot time repeating myself to someone who uses a fake name.

  3. Smengineer16 says:
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    NASA employees need to stop thinking that the leadership cares about them…at all. I know they all thought they were doing something deeper serving our country, and yes that is true, but the leadership does not and has not supported their dedicated people for years. NASA people, your job does not love you back. It will feel like a bad breakup, it may break your heart, but the day you walk out the door no one (except a few that are actually friends) will care. No matter how you leave or how many awards you won or programs you supported. You need to choose you first.

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