Workforce cuts at NASA have led to a staffing imbalance, which already negatively affects 70% main projects of the space agency, including preparations for landing on the Moon and Mars.
According to an official audit by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), published in July 2026 year, the agency lost over 4 000 personnel civil servants (close 20% of the entire state) through budget cuts and government voluntary redundancy programs.
Main implications for space programs
A threat to Artemis missions: Due to a shortage of engineers and scientists, NASA faces a critical shortage of specialists to support complex missions to the Moon, which provokes significant delays in schedules.
Uneven impact on research centers: The Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland was the hardest hit, losing more than a third of the staff. It forced a shutdown 13 buildings and more 100 laboratories.
Langley Research Center and Kennedy Space Center have experienced similar attrition.
Laboratory of jet propulsion (JPL) additionally released 10% their employees.
Cancellation and freezing of scientific projects: Famous space observatories are under threat of closure (example, Chandra X-Ray та Fermi), as well as missions to explore Mars, Venus and the far reaches of the solar system.
Excessive load: Assigning additional duties to employees, who remained in the team, slows down engineering checks and decision-making.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, together with the US Personnel Administration, launched the emergency program "NASA Force". It is designed to attract new technical talent on temporary two-year contracts, as well as transfer some of the external contractors to the status of permanent civil servants, to quickly close "holes" in critical departments.
Source: https://spacenews.com