NASA, Trump
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Draconian budget and staff cuts could mean another Challenger disaster, warn current and former NASA employees.
On Monday, NASA announced that Makenzie Lystrup will leave her post as director of the Goddard Space Flight Center on Friday, August 1. Lystrup has held the top job at Goddard since April 2023, overseeing a staff of more than 8,000 civil servants and contractor employees, and a budget last year of about $4.7 billion.
The departures are playing out as NASA and other government agencies contend with significant cuts to funding and personnel.
It remains an open question as to whether NASA and the U.S. space program will survive the Republican president’s second term.
A key source told Ars that the recent budget action in the House and Senate indicates that legislators are taking the impoundment threat from the Office of Management and Budget seriously. Their best weapon in this fight would be to pass a budget on time, and they appear to be trying to do so.
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NASA is once again grappling with a leadership change as Makenzie Lystrup, the director of the Goddard Space Flight Center, prepares to leave her post on August 1.