Keith’s note: As you ponder protests, policies, and how everyone should respond, re-read this part of the Executive Order that erases NASA’s union rights. It redefines what NASA is – despite whatever wording is in its charter or innumerable authorization and appropriations over the years. It says that NASA is “hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. It is also hereby determined that Chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, cannot be applied to these agencies and agency subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.” No mention of that science and exploration stuff. Indeed, this pivots NASA closer to Space Force. And it is not to be unexpected that NASA employees may soon see their ability to speak out reigned in as it already is within the Defense and Intelligence agencies. Again, read the words. They are rather precise.

Keith’s note: Speaking as a person bitten by a space bug at age 6 in 1961, nothing in this Planetary Society piece “A cosmic perspective worth fighting for“ is actually incorrect per se. But it is written from the warped perspective of one person inside the space bubble talking to others inside the same space bubble. Anyone who takes 30 seconds looking outside that bubble will realize that the real world – where all of the non-space converts and decision makers spend 100% of their time – has no time for lofty goals and inspirational things. It is all about meat and potatoes, paychecks, whether or not you can love someone, all covered with a deep sauce of ‘us Vs them’. Space people need to read the room and adapt their strategies to the world as it is – not as we would like it to be. Ad Astra etc.

Keith’s note: There will be another “Save NASA” protest at NASA Headquarters on Monday Sept. 15th. This is the third “Save NASA” protest in Washington, DC. Despite being totally relevant to workforce and science funding issues being discussed but he White House and Congress, the Planetary Society which has been pushing its own efforts, refuses to make any mention of this event or others involving actual NASA employees fighting for their jobs and their agency. For that matter, none of the space advocacy or trade organizations seem to want to mention this event – which should tell you a lot about their priorities – or lack thereof. Oddly they just added IFPTE to their lobbying team yet ignore their priority activities. Expected speakers include:

• Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, VA-10 – House Cmte on Space, Science, and Technology
• Monica Gorman, Area Vice President, Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association (GESTA) – Union representing Goddard technical civil servants
• Colette Delwalla, Executive Director, Stand Up For Science
• Dr. Mollie Manier, National Institutes of Health, signer of the Bethesda Declaration
• Matthew Biggs, President, International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE) – National body for GESTA

More below

Keith’s note: the following email was sent by the president of President AFEU/IFPTE local 30 at NASA Ames to employees: “Hello Everyone, On August 28, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14343, titled, “Further Exclusions from The Federal Labor-Management Relations Program” (EO 14343). This is notification that NASA intends to fully implement this Executive Order which excludes the agency from the Federal Service Labor Management Statute.” More below.

Keith’s note: I’m going to skip going into DC to cover the 15 September protest at NASA HQ . To protect sources let me just say that there are some people in the building who’d love to have security jump on me for crossing an invisible line on the sidewalk or use video to see who I talk to on the sidewalk. Paranoid? Yup.

Keith’s note: Last week there was a NASA JPL town hall. The ongoing effort to unionize JPL was a topic of discussion.  Shortly after that an anti-union email was sent by management to all employees. Here is the JPL Workers United website: https://jplworkersunited.org

Keith’s note: I posted this note elsewhere last night wherein I wear my heart on my spacesuit sleeve. Oh well. Things change quickly. The latest Executive Order banning unions at NASA pushed me over the edge. That said, this note is still where my head is at. I originally thought that I’d just dial things down, live in the woods with my wife, and people would just go elsewhere for NASA tidbits. Well, I am flattered and rather shocked at the sheer number supportive emails and notes I have gotten in the past week – many of them rather long – mostly from people I simply did not know. I do now. That said, here’s my original note. Please take care of yourselves but do NOT stop the fight to keep the enemies of NASA from destroying American space exploration leadership. If not now, then when? – if not you, then who?

• Earlier note: FYI Actor Bruce Willis, 70, is suffering from dementia. I will be 70 in 2 months. I lost two parents to Alzheimer’s. Life is short. Talent and a lifetime of memories can evaporate in a moment. If you are wondering why I am on hiatus from NASAWatch this is part of the reason why. It takes a toll – especially after 30 years of doing it. I came out of retirement and was (re)running it at 125% of capacity – and still the attack on NASA continued – undaunted. I am just one person. Unless many, many more stand up and speak out then there is little else that I can do that I have not already done. But I guess I will try (again) – but not just yet. Ad Astra y’all

Keith’s note: In my earlier rant I mentioned the crap that I have been going through which certainly pales in comparison to what NASA and contractor employees have to endure as their dream jobs are stripped away for no reason other than to meet a body count quota. I am pretty good at running interference for all of you who have helped me amass what nonsense is going so as to be able to tell everyone who is affected directly or indirectly without jeopardizing your job. But a thin red line passed today. My bullshit meter pegged at saturation. It’s time to step back. More below.

Keith’s note: A reader started to give crap on LinkedIn on Wednesday about an image of his that had gone viral – and that I reposted before I knew the source. When I offered to credit him with is name it went sideways. So I retagged the photo with a generic tag to protect him. I did not identify him since I don’t do that. But then he started to stalk me on another social media platform and, given his employment as a law enforcement employee at NASA with a profile pic in full camo gear, well, a line had been crossed. Messages to NASA PAO have since gone unanswered – so there you go. Original posts below.

Keith’s note: I just saw this Space Frontier Foundation post over on Facebook “Why does space still struggle to compete for attention, resources, and belief?” My answer: Because you space people cannot read the room outside your space bubble where the rest of humanity lives – the people who pay for the whole space party one way or another. The same people who struggle to pay bills and stay afloat. Link your dreams to their needs and you will get more support. If people do not understand your interest then find a new way to talk to them – in ways that resonate with them – not with other space fans. Otherwise just sit down.

Keith’s note to NASA employees and contractor partners: If there is no FY 2026 budget by 30 Sep, a CR will be in place until there is. Yet major decisions are already being implemented per the devastating President’s FY 2026 Budget Request (PBR). So ignore official statements from NASA to the contrary. Even if a budget is approved, the actions taken by NASA may be hard or impossible to reverse. NASA HQ simply does not care what Congress thinks. Senior management across NASA has been told to “implement the PBR to the letter” on October 1. Nothing is in writing. It’s all verbal. Odds are that most of your management – nearly all the way up – are being officially kept in the dark and simply told to comply. FYI NASA HQ 9th floor: this is not a secret – everyone, everywhere in the broader space community knows what is going on. So pardon me if I seem to be a tad strident today. I have been watching NASA do its thing since I was a 6 year old in 1961. And I used to work there. I am heart broken – and angry – at the impending destruction of this unrivaled, amazing resource and the horrid treatment of the outstanding, inspired people who have made it what it is.

Keith’s note: To those who seek to destroy NASA: You will not succeed.

Keith’s note: There is a new, rather detailed and annotated “Statement of Solidarity and Support” out called “The NASA Voyager Declaration“ regarding the current state of affairs at NASA. It is modeled after similar efforts by employees at EPA, NIH, and elsewhere within the Federal government. It opens with: “Dear Interim Administrator Duffy, In light of your recent appointment as Interim NASA Administrator, we bring to your attention recent policies that have or threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission. We, the signatories of this letter, dissent from these policies, and raise these concerns because we believe strongly in the importance of NASA’s mission, which we are dedicated to uphold.” More.

Keith’s note: according to a group of concerned citizens: There will be a “Save NASA” protest coming up on Sunday, July 20th.  Our group previously organized the protest in front of NASA Headquarters in DC on June 30th.  We are a peaceful protest group, and we stand in solidarity with other scientific advocacy groups. (More below)

Keith’s note: On 1 July 2025 Mark Sykes, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, published an op ed titled “Taking Action Against Historical Censorship by USRA” which I reprinted here on NASAWatch. UPDATE: Mark Sykes has posted a response to USRA’s critique of his original OpEd.

• USRA has responded: “Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute, misrepresents USRA’s actions in response to the Administration’s directives on DEI-related matters. His article contains numerous inaccuracies and hyperbole that distort the facts surrounding USRA’s removal of DEI content”. Full document: USRA Response to the Editorial Titled “Taking Action Against Historical Censorship by USRA”.
• I got a call last week from USRA’s Senior VP Bernie Seery asking if I’d post the USRA response to Sykes editorial. I said yes and Seery agreed to send it to me by email. I never got it.
• Also, to be transparent, I told Seery that actions by USRA with regard to LPI and LPSC to edit and censor history by regarding links to items and the items themselves from its websites walks right up to the line of blatant complicity with regard to the erasure of items having to do with equality, diversity, and inclusion within the space science community writ large.
• Also with regard to Sykes’ call for an independent replacement for LPSC in 2026, I agree that it is warranted given USRA’s actions. And NASA has cut funding for it any way. Revisionist history slows science – it does not advance it.
• Erasing NASA Diversity Abstracts Is Not That Easy, earlier post
• LPI DEI Censorship Memo From USRA/LPI, earlier post
• USRA’s Non-Deletion Deletion of LPI Website Material, earlier post

Keith’s note: this web reel was just posted by CNN from the end of my interview this morning. OK, I have just about run out of ways / platforms to wave my arms and talk about what NASA needs in order to explore the universe. Your turn. “NASA needs a permanent administrator who understands rocket science and knows how all this stuff works and is committed to lead the agency through these troubles to, you know, better times. That isn’t happening. And it’s very frustrating to the 17-18,000 civil servants and several hundred thousand contractors and the people of America. Please Mr. President send us a real NASA Administrator so we can get on with the whole explore the universe thing.”

Keith’s note: Kudos to @exploreplanets – Planetary Society – on what they do WRT FY 2026 budget cuts. But they totally ignore how the rest of us in the space community are impacted – and how we’re responding. They made no mention of:

• NASA Is Rethinking Who Will Run JPL
• Today’s Budget Protest at NASA Headquarters
• Second Budget Cut Rally At NASA Glenn
• Congressional Event: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants
• NASA’s Impending Data Diaspora
• NASA Workforce Depletion Update
• Editorial: Taking Action Against Historical Censorship by USRA
• Space Biology Funding Call To Action
• And so on. United We Stand – Divided We Fall.

Keith’s note: according to a press release (more below): “Stand Up for Science, Cleveland Organizes Rally for NASA Glenn on Anniversary of Moon Landing”:

• Who: Stand Up for Science Cleveland
• What: Rally to Protest Budget Cuts at NASA Glenn
• Where: Willard Park in downtown Cleveland
• When: July 20, 2025, 2-4 PM

Keith’s note: This was written and originally posted here by Mark V. Sykes, Ph.D., J.D. Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute: “This statement is my opinion and does not reflect an official position of the Planetary Science Institute.: Institutions are reeling from the spray of executive orders from the White House since late January. Activities in support of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) have been particular targets, with the cancellation of large numbers of research and other grants and contracts and the bizarre purging of material from government websites (including, for a time, information about the airplane that dropped the first atomic bomb, the Enola Gay). (More below)