Probationary Employee Firings Across NASA
NASA Centers
NASAWatch
Keith’s note: Multiple NASA centers will be announcing probationary employee “terminations” on Tuesday as well. A quick look at the news will show that this is happening across the entire Federal government. And this is just the pre-game show, folks. There is still a RIF to look forward to. As for the contractor community – things will probably suck even more.
14 responses to “Probationary Employee Firings Across NASA”
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These probationary employees at NASA often have advanced degrees in engineering, science, software development, and other advanced fields, representing the brightest and most talented minds of their generation. Driven by a deep passion for aerospace and the promise of space exploration, they are not just statistics; they are someone’s daughter or son who has poured years of dedication into mastering complex scientific and mathematical concepts. Now, these exemplary young people, eager to contribute their talents to our nation’s future, are facing the devastating prospect of job loss due to decisions made by the current administration. This is not just a workforce reduction; it is a heartbreaking blow to individual dreams and a significant loss of potential for our country. To see these promising careers cut short feels like a step backward, a decision that will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on their lives and, ultimately, on our nation’s ability to compete and innovate, possibly even giving an edge to our adversaries.
Keith, It appears that you are the first to reveal in your NASA map that the Trump administration has clandestinely swapped the locations of Glenn Research Center and Armstrong Test Facility, and changed the name of the latter back to Plum Brook Station. Wow. 🙂
It is a NASA.gov graphic.
That’s just too funny. Maybe you need to consider leveling up your info sources. 🙂
But seriously, thank you for all you have done for us over the past 3 decades. You are an invaluable resource in times like these.
Keith – where do you see or hear the situation go for contractors? Mass cancellations of contracts fot the sake of “efficiency”, or cancellations of programs/projects by Congress that will lead to budget cuts and contractors layoffs?
The contractor events start on Tuesday across NASA and the rest of the government. As for contractors- I have head nothing directly except NASA (agencies) have been directed to cancel all DEI-related contracts so I guess that means contractor employees will be affected. In a larger sense if they cut 25% of the NASA work force then you’d normally say that contractors can pick up the slack – except there will also be programmatic cancellations – and budget cuts. So … If there is any good news I will let you know. Hang in there.
What an idiotic administration for cutting federal workers… With the amount of money being given towards paying contractors (who end up making 2-10 times the federal employee), I only see wanting to make the government LESS efficient. If they’re trying to privatize NASA and give money Blue Origin or Space X, it’ll cost them even more than what a civil servant would do it for. But hey, if that’s what they want, have at it.
I feel bad for all of the employees who are at risk. But the correction Federal Government-wide is overdue. The US is going broke.
It will be interesting to see how this all works out. In human spaceflight, up through the beginning of the Shuttle program in the 1970s, NASA technical personnel did much including research, analysis and management of the design and development, as they had with earlier programs.
But over the last 30 years the engineers have now mainly become contract managers or international negotiators and overseers. For a long time we were told that was because NASA had now become the ‘operations’ organization, so focus on technical development was unnecessary. Most of the ‘US’ modules of ISS were built in Italy. SLS mainly uses hand me downs from Shuttle. Dragon and Falcon were designed, built and operate by Space X. Now with commercialization, even much of the operations function is the role of the fixed price ‘commercial’ contractor. So I wonder whether NASA still needs the same number and types of people on the job. Hopefully that will be part of the correction.
You seem bad with numbers. None of the actions currently being taken will make even a noticeable dent in the deficit: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/doge-maga-budget-cut-plans-f65f8357
” “If the priority had been to actually cut waste and fraud in federal spending, they’re not looking in the right places,” because the costs of the federal workforce are a fraction of the federal budget, said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, an independent government watchdog.”
NASA’s budget is in the noise floor compared to the big three: defense, medicare, social security. If cuts aren’t happening to those three, it’s simply performative politics at the expense of exploration and science, full stop.
The US can never go broke because the US gov prints the money… obviously that can be inflationary if not managed wisely, but unlike a business the US gov cannot go broke… unless it wants to.
Other than that, what you wrote seems on the money. The question is, do we want NASA to simply be an agency that manages contracts, or do we want NASA to actually do innovative science, technology, and engineering? I’d prefer the latter, with NASA taking technological risks and making technological investments that don’t currently make sense from a business perspective, but it’s not looking good for that…
Like Space 1999. This talk about the debt limit is propaganda. “Correcting” the federal workforce will have a negligible effect on the debt compared to the economic impact of cancellations and job cuts. There’s no way industry wouldn’t feel the effects of this correction as well. NASA has been very successful at commercializing much of the technology development that was once done in house. It still does a substantial amount of in house R&D and was developing initiatives to revamp its workforce so that the technical and management expertise were paralleled and integrated with each other. This new future holds no room for any of that.
The efficiency and technical superiority of the industry (that NASA played a part in creating) is a myth. By in large, NASA uses contractors to do the technical work. Cost overruns are still common. SPACEX is successful because of HEAVY investment by the DoD and NASA. So much so, that both have a presence at their facilities. Furthermore, I don’t understand this talk about correction. Do you want the best and brightest minds from all over the world to be dissuaded from following their passion instead of the money? Do you want destabilized influence and the destruction of global goodwill that the agency promotes? That’s where we’re headed.
I don’t know where to start with this. This evinces a kind of naivete I think is a little odd to see on a niche NASA watchdog site. Do you believe these personnel cuts are being done in a good faith effort to restructure, reduce, and make more efficient the workforce? The organization (named after an internet meme and joke cryptocurrency) already has had to rehire people it fired to maintain security of nuclear weapons. Does that speak to a methodical, thoughtful approach to reorganization? Do you believe Elon’s team, consisting of members like the 19 year old Big Balls (yes, for real) are making carefully informed decisions (as opposed to, say, using AI models and an apparently amateurish understanding of database structure)?
Why would you make moves that encourage retirement and then fire a chunk of the youngest workforce for one of the agencies for which its aging workforce and difficulty hiring has presented keen demographic challenges?
I see in your post the language of empty talking points. This administration will vastly expand the deficit (proudly) and offer as an offset what might as well be pennies obtained by slashing and burning the federal workforce and crippling their ability to render any service, efficiently or otherwise. Honestly, Elon Musk is perfectly open about his intentions here.
Let’s leave it at this: tomorrow Keith will have to put up an article about a mass firing of probationary employees. I bet he’ll have a copy of the email where they will be told they’re being fired due to their performance (as is legally required since probationary employees do otherwise have some protection). Maybe we can revisit this there but if I’m right I do want you to ask yourself if you think that’s true. You think Elon had guys like Big Ballz (I haven’t seen but I must assume it’s a z) reviewing all their work?
Our org finally hired some new employees for things that were previously not able to be done unless someone accredited was hired. These firings will take us back to square one and won’t help with how stretched thin NASA employees already are. If there’s new hires, there’s usually a reason and it’s hard to get a new hire slot and justify it so these spots aren’t opened lightly.
If anything, they should be looking into the procurement process.