About 4,000 NASA employees have decided to take advantage of the Trump administration’s offer of “deferred resignations,” which will result in a reduction of more than 20% of its staff. These figures were provided by NASA News Chief Cheryl Warner, who shared them in an email to journalists on July 25.
The deferred resignation program (DRP), under which participants receive paid administrative leave until an agreed departure date, is part of the White House’s efforts to reduce government spending.
At that point, NASA employees had two opportunities to apply for the DRP. According to Warner, in the first phase, for which the application deadline expired in February, approximately 870 employees, or 4.8% of the staff, agreed to participate in the program. Approximately 3,000 people, or 16.4% of the agency’s employees, did so during the second phase, for which the application deadline expired on July 25. The last figure includes people who chose two similar programs: the Voluntary Early Retirement Program and the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program.
Warner emphasized that these figures could change slightly in the coming weeks. For example, some people may withdraw their resignation letters, while others may have their applications rejected.
Since Trump’s inauguration in January, NASA has lost about 500 people through attrition. Taking these losses into account, by January 9, 2026, when employees who agreed to participate in the second phase of the DRP are removed from the lists, NASA’s workforce will be reduced to approximately 14,000 people, Warner said in a statement. Based on these figures, the DRP and related measures will result in a reduction of approximately 21% in NASA’s staff.
All of these programs are part of the White House’s efforts to reduce NASA’s spending. In his request for the 2026 federal budget, Trump proposed cutting the organization’s overall funding by 24% and nearly halving its science budget. Such steps have caused protests from scientists, engineers, and ordinary people who are interested in space science and research. For example, nearly 300 NASA scientists recently signed the Voyager Declaration, warning that budget cuts, if adopted, would have devastating consequences for American science and could affect the safety of astronauts.
According to Space.com
