You can add Another name of thousands of employees leaving NASA as the Trump administration prepares a space agency for a 25 – % budget reduction.
On Monday, NASA announced that Makenzie Lystrup would leave its position director Goddard Space Flight Center on Friday, August 1. Lystrup has been involved in the highest job in Goddard since April 2023, supervising the staff of over 8,000 officials and employees of contractors and the budget last year around $ 4.7 billion.
These numbers make Goddard the largest of NASA’s 10 field centers devoted primarily to scientific research and the development of robotic space missions, with a budget and working force comparable to human space flight centers NASA in Texas, Florida and Alabama. Officials from Goddard manage the telescopes of James Webb and Hubble in space, and engineers Goddard gather Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, another flagship observatory scheduled for the premiere at the end of next year.
“We are grateful to Makenzie for her leadership at NASA Goddard for over two years, including her work to inspire the golden age of explorers, scientists and engineers,” said Vanessa Wyze, NASA administrator in a statement.
Cynthia Simmons, deputy director Goddard, will take over the position of the boss operating in the Space Center. Simmons started working at Goddard as a contract engineer 25 years ago.
Lystrup came to NASA from Ball Aerospace, currently part of Bae Systems, where she managed the company’s work on civilian cosmic projects for NASA and other federal agencies. Before joining the Lystrup air goal, he obtained a doctorate in astrophysics from the University College London and conducted research as a planetary astronomer.
Makenzie Lystrup during a panel discussion with the directors of the Agency Center at the Artemis Supplier conference in Washington in Washington.Thanks to the kindness of Joel Kowsky/NASA
Formal opposition
Announcement of the departure of the fox from Goddard came a few hours after the release Open letter to the temporary NASA administratorTransport secretary Sean Duffysigned by hundreds of current and former employees of the agency. The letter, entitled “Voyager declaration”, defines what the signatories call “the latest politicians who or threaten to waste public resources, threaten human security, weaken national security and undermine NASA’s basic mission.”
“Main program changes in NASA must be implemented strategically to make the risk carefully managed,” we read in a letter. “Instead, in the last six months there have been quick and prodigal changes that undermined our mission and caused a catastrophic influence on NASA’s working force. We are forced to speak when our leadership prioritizes political drive over human security, scientific progress and effective use of public resources.”
The letter is modeled on similar unravenous documents written by employees protesting for cuts and political changes at the National Institutes of Health and Environmental Protection Agency.