Keith’s note: Update on the next Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) sponsored by USRA’s LPI.

• If you go to the LPSC abstract submission page, the top Abstract Submission Criteria listed says “All submitted abstracts must comply with Administration Executive Orders. Any non-compliant abstracts will be removed from consideration for the conference program.”
• The words “Administration Executive Orders“ links to a page regarding DEI which says “NASA headquarters advised LPI and the AGs in late January that all AG activities were to be paused to give the agency time to review them to ensure that they complied with “presidential actions.” Among those presidential actions are various Executive Orders, memoranda, and other directives terminating DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion)-related positions and activities throughout the federal government. (“IDEA” is LPI’s term for “DEI.”)”
• I already know of several instances wherein people have submitted LPSC abstracts including DEI topics which were summarily rejected. I have also seen social media postings wherein space and planetary scientists and students are objecting to this policy and, in some cases, are refusing to attend/participate at this year’s LPSC.
• Oddly enough LPI has a rather DEI-centric Code of Conduct listed on its site – something that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusions that the NASA DEI police might take issue with. Just sayin’.
• Update On USRA/LPI/LPSC Diversity Censoring (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: Once upon a time NASA PAO would have talked about increasing diversity – in the Astronaut Corps – and elsewhere across the agency. Now — not so much.

Keith’s note: Back in January 2025 several days after the Trump 2.0 team took over NASA, I posted this item about the first astronaut class chosen by NASA that included women and minorities. 24 hours after I posted this the link was taken down. This is what it looked like 2 days before the NASA DEIA cops took it down. 9 months later and it is still down. Why? Oddly, this page from January 1978, which says the same things, is still online. Let’s see if the DEIA cops nuke it too. Keith’s 26 January 2025 note: Looks like this DEIA-oriented page at NASA.gov needs to be erased ASAP: “45 Years Ago: NASA Selects 35 New Astronauts“. On Jan. 16, 1978, NASA announced the selection of 35 new astronauts, the first time in more than eight years that the agency had admitted new astronauts. The selection of the first class of space shuttle astronauts held historic significance not only because of its then-record size but also because, for the first time, the group included women and minorities. Previous astronaut selections in the 1960s consisted of test pilots or scientists, in those days the domain principally of white men.“ Update: I posted this on Sunday morning, 26 January. I checked today – 27 January – and it is gone.

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 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)

Keith’s note: I just got this from USRA/LPI: “Dear Colleagues, We have heard from many of you and understand that there is significant concern among the planetary science community regarding the removal of DEI content from USRA/LPI websites. Please know that we did not make that decision lightly. We were doing our best to comply with our understanding of the Administration’s directives (specifically, Executive Order 14173) and the deadline it set for compliance.”

Keith’s note: The NASA DEI Erasure Squad has been busy. If you search for past LPSC abstracts on DEI, DEIA, diversity etc. you’ll see that they have disappeared and prior meeting agendas have been altered. Try this one from 2022: “Insight’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group“. Its gone. But the Internet Archive has it here. While I have your attention how about this one over at NTRS “Diversity and Inclusion in Spacecraft Science Teams: What Do We Know and What Can We Do About It?” from NASA GSFC that was presented LPSC 2023. Or “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Initiatives on the Mars 2020 Science Team and Implications for NASA Planetary Science Missions“ presented at LPSC 2024. These and many other diversity and inclusion themed abstracts are all still online at a NASA server. And there’s man more abstracts and papers online all over the agency. And they are being archived offline. And they are in the abstract volumes originally created and distributed in printed and PDF formats to tens of thousands of participants. The DOGE Diversity Narcs are not very good at their job. You cannot make this whole topic go away. It just grows back and spreads when you try to do so. Just sayin’

Keith’s note: According to this 2021 ENR article, Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro was firmly in the diversity-is-good camp back in the day. KSC Director Janet Petro Reflects on Diversity: “Petro: KSC has embraced the link between diverse teams and innovation. We reinforce this message with our entire workforce by including it as one of our DEIA Crucial Topics: “NASA sees DEIA as a mission imperative. Our commonalities unite us as a team, and the universe of our differences gives us the perspectives and insights that mitigate group think and confirmation bias.”

Keith’s note: a large group of space scientists have put together a group letter that has large number of signatories: “To NASA leadership and our elected representatives: We write as members of the space science community who are dismayed by the impact of recent events on taxpayer-funded, NASA-supported science, missions, and communities. Many of us chose this profession motivated by a desire to push the boundaries of what is possible and widen our understanding of the universe, and to do so in the public interest. Space science research has inspired generations of scientists and engineers, while pushing U.S. innovation forward. … Recent events and actions directly damage our ability to do the work we value. We wish to call attention to several occurrences that have unfolded over the past weeks. … We also recognize that even in times of upheaval, all of us have the power to stand up for our values, for each other, and for the work we believe in. We hope you will join us in advocating for broadening access to publicly funded science, empowering NASA-funded projects to recruit strong, diverse teams, and building a future in which scientific progress truly benefits all of us. The American people deserve nothing less.” Full letter

Keith’s note: It looks like the NASAPRS “NASA Task Book is down for maintenance” according to its website at https://taskbook.nasaprs.com/. It has been offline since last week. Have a look at these two papers I found rather quickly that use a forbidden DEIA word. I’ll bet they are not there when this resource comes back online. I have an archive online here at Astrobiology.com

• NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,111 2 August 2024 (Space Life Science Research Results) “Asrar FM, Bolles D, Ngo-Anh TJ. Healthcare can learn from space exploration to champion disability inclusion. Commun Med (Lond). 2024 Jul 25;4(1):147.Note: From the abstract: “People with disabilities, including healthcare professionals, encounter many obstacles. The space sector is taking steps towards promoting equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, including developing the world’s first parastronaut program. Here, we propose that healthcare can learn from space in enhancing disability inclusion.” This article may be obtained online without charge.”
• NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,078 8 December 2023 (Space Life Science Research Results): “Mandt KE. Increasing diversity on spacecraft mission teams reduces risk.Science. 2023 Dec 8;382(6675):eadk7373. Online ahead of print. Journal Impact Factor: 56.9″