Acting Administrator Janet Petro: NASA Update – Feb. 14, 2025
As we head into the long weekend, I want to take a moment to recognize President’s Day – a chance to reflect on the principles of leadership, service, and the pursuit of ambitious goals that move our nation forward. Those same principles fuel our work at NASA, whether it’s delivering science results, preparing for our next mission, or supporting each other. Thank you for your continued dedication to our mission. A few important updates for this week:
Return to In-Person Work: The Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget have approved us moving forward with our return to in-person work implementation plan. My gratitude to our agency team that pulled this plan together. Most of our team will be on site full-time beginning Feb. 28, but there will be a small number of exceptions as we assess available space and other factors. I encourage you to review and familiarize yourself with guidance and frequently asked questions on our administration transition OneNASA site – it has helpful instructions for returning to in-person work, including resources for getting the IT services you need. A friendly reminder, you are expected to bring back any equipment you took home with you when telework began.
New Executive Order on “Workforce Optimization”: Your leaders are tracking the recent executive order calling for agencies to undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force, among other things. NASA intends to comply with this and all executive orders. We are currently awaiting further guidance and will keep you posted as we learn more.
DOGE Presence: The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has arrived onsite at the agency. We anticipate that they will start reviewing our contracts to find efficiencies.
Deferred Resignation Program: The window to opt-in to the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) has closed. NASA has begun the implementation process. Employees who opted into the DRP and their supervisors will receive emails with more information on how to proceed.
New Senior Advisor Appointment: This week, we welcomed Ryan Whitley as a new senior advisor to the administrator. With experience in both commercial and civil space, Ryan is a senior executive who has led significant business development, program management, and engineering efforts. Prior to leading commercial space activities, he managed engineering teams at multiple NASA centers and served as a director of civil space policy for the National Space Council.
This week, our work was on full display – hosting the annual Moon to Mars Architecture Workshop for industry and academia, supporting Blue Ghost Mission One’s journey to the Moon with NASA science and technology payloads, and identifying a candidate for the fastest-orbiting exoplanet system ever discovered. These milestones remind us why we push boundaries and strive for excellence in everything we do.
Finally, in case you missed it, take a look at this breathtaking image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope of HH30 – an edge-on protoplanetary disk with outflowing gas. This image illuminates how cosmic dust comes together to form planets while simultaneously reminding us that our pursuit of knowledge is part of this grand journey to understand our universe. Let’s keep that momentum going. Let’s be ready for the work ahead.
Embrace the Challenge,
Janet
8 responses to “Acting Administrator Janet Petro: NASA Update – Feb. 14, 2025”
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My heart is so broken for our agency, and so sad to see this cowardly approach to leadership.
I do not know how Ms. Petro sleeps at night.
Janet Petro gets orders from the White House to do things.If she refuses to do them the Administration will fire her. I am hearing that there is great anxiety all the way into the 9th floor glass doors about this. If she is fired they will simply find another person to do this. They are trying to preserve what little sympathy and consideration they can for NASA folks out of this bad situation – but this Administration simply has none and will not tolerate anyone who shows any.
Yes, I’m sure she has illusions of mitigating future harm by playing along.
But remind me how appeasement usually plays out with wannabe strongmen?
She is a coward. They all are.
People who hide behind fake names to call other people cowards are cowards.
Keith, want to thank you for getting the story of what’s happening inside NASA to a larger audience. These are difficult times. With few exceptions, NASA leadership has by in large been compliant and cowardly. However, I struggle to comprehend why you are criticizing Lizz’s assertions (which I as someone on the inside agree with) while admitting that you don’t divulge your sources because there would be repercussions for them. Ms. Petro has talked about the importance of diversity in glowing terms (https://www.enr.com/articles/52939-ksc-director-janet-petro-reflects-on-diversity) only to walk it back when the protection of those values is most critical. NASA as an organization are compromising their values in a vain and naive attempt to “keep the target off our backs”. It clearly has not and was not ever going to work. If they really wanted to show sympathy and consideration, they would take inspiration from the southern district of New York. We both know that isn’t going to happen.
Again, I appreciate what you’re doing. I just found this response puzzling.
PS – Yes, I am hiding behind the limited anonymity afforded to me by the World Wide Web. More than willing to say the same thing to you offline if/when the opportunity arises, however.
What can I say. I have already gotten threats. I have always used my real name. Its been this way for 30 years. At some point people need to stand up in public and take credit for their public statements. I also protect my sources. I will soon tire of taking those risks for others and I will make NASAWatch totally disappear and go hiking with my wife.
Again, I respect what you’re doing. I can and do stand up when the situation calls for it. As you know, anonymity has been a virtue in journalism since time immemorial. One of my concerned colleagues (on probation themselves) mentioned your website during a discussion over the weekend. Hope you’re doing what you can to recharge.
Nothing like the fake positivity of “thanking” your workforce for the vital work they do in one sentence, and then following that with the announcement that large scale reductions in force will take place at NASA.