March 11, 20253 min readNASA Begins Mass Firings ahead of Trump Teams DeadlineTop advisers in NASAs Office of the Chief Scientist are among the first to go amid a government-wide downsizing effortBy Alexandra Witze & Nature magazine A large, bright red NASA logo in front of the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building stands out on an overcast day in the nations capital. John M. Chase/Getty ImagesNASA has abruptly closed its chief-scientist office, along with 2 other offices, firing 23 employees. The 10 March action leaves the agency without a way of feeding independent science advice to its topmost leadership, at a time when it is talking about sending astronauts to the Moon and developing plans to go onwards to Mars.Janet Petro, the acting NASA administrator, said in an agency-wide e-mail that were viewing this as an opportunity to reshape our workforce. The lay-offs come days before all US federal agencies are required to submit a plan for how they would eliminate employees, as part of a radical downsizing of the federal government led by US President Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk in the name of improving efficiency.These are NASAs first firings since Trump took office, and they have taken a different pattern to those at other federal agencies in the past few weeks. NASA was spared, for unknown reasons, from the extensive lay-offs of probationary employees those with little job protection because they have been in their positions for less than two years seen at other agencies. The move makes NASA the first agency under the current Trump administration to pre-emptively fire career employees, beginning the required reductions in force (RIFs) sooner than many observers had anticipated. It remains unclear whether other agencies might follow NASAs lead.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The offices closed by NASA are its Office of the Chief Scientist; its Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy; and the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility branch of its Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. The cutting of the last of these is a direct result of Trumps 20 January executive order to slash diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government. But the reason for the closure of the other two offices is not as obvious.Thinking about the futureBoth offices advise NASAs chief, or administrator, on scientific and technical matters. Petro is filling this position until Trumps nominee, billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman a friend of Musk is confirmed by the US Senate.The two offices are unique in that they offer ways of connecting strategy across NASAs departments and divisions. With their closure, you will lose strategic thinking, said a NASA staff member who is familiar with the structure of the offices but did not want to be named for fear of retaliation.For instance, the Office of the Chief Scientist was involved in NASAs open-science initiative to publicly share data and algorithms, and hosted discussions on reproducibility and scientific ethics, among other topics. This was where people thought about the future of NASA, the staff member said. The office also produces internal reports requested by the NASA administrator, including a recent analysis on the possible impacts of involving industry partners in plans to bring rock samples from Mars.The Office of the Chief Scientist is independent from NASAs Science Mission Directorate, which oversees the agencys US$7-billion science budget and runs missions including the Hubble Space Telescope and the various Mars rovers. The position of NASA chief scientist, which oversees the office, is held by climate scientist Kate Calvin. With the office eliminated, Calvin is expected to return to the US Department of Energy, from which she had been temporarily loaned to NASA.The Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy studied broad space issues for NASA, including orbital debris, the relationship between the agency and private aerospace partners and artificial intelligence in space.The firings came without warning on Monday morning, a person who lost their job told Nature. They were particularly shocked that career employees were being terminated ahead of the RIF-plan deadline. Its being done in an odd way before the agency even has to let anybody go, they said. Prior to everything happening today, NASA has been an incredible place to work to dream big, to innovate, to do things that I never thought I could have done.This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on March 11, 2025.