Buyouts And Hiring At NASA

Keith’s note: The Houston Chronicle took a look at 2025 layoffs and the newly-announced NASA Force. “Accepting the buyout was a difficult decision for many NASA employees. Keith Cowing, a watchdog who previously worked at NASA and has edited NASAWatch.com since 1996, said employees would call him at 2 a.m. in tears. He said many people who took the buyout don’t want to return to NASA — they say they’re happy to be gone, they were going to retire soon anyway, they found private-sector work — but others have asked for more clarity surrounding NASA Force. Some early and mid-career employees took the buyout because they were afraid of being laid off. “The irony of letting a whole bunch of qualified people go and then saying, ‘Oh, we need people, new people, to hire back,’ it’s not lost on me,” Cowing said. “However, I think they seem to be going about this in a structured way.” More