NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The congressman whose district includes NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center says he is taking a wait-and-see approach to potential changes to the center by the impending Trump administration.
In brief remarks at the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society here Jan. 13, Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) said he would work to keep NASA moving “in the right direction” as the Trump administration takes office later this month.
“I want to make sure I do everything that I can to keep science moving in the right direction,” he said, “and to keep NASA moving in the right direction.”
The science community, including astronomers gathered at the conference, are concerned about potential changes to the agency and its science programs in the new administration. They are particularly watching what influence Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, will have given his close ties to Trump.
“I haven’t met Mr. Musk yet, but we’ll see what sort of changes he pushes for,” Ivey said.
Scientists who work at Goddard, located in Ivey’s district, recalled that the first Trump administration targeted for cancellation some major missions led by the center. They included the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Earth science mission and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
Congress, on multiple occasions in the first Trump term, rejected proposals to cancel those and other missions. PACE launched in February 2024 and Roman remains on budget and schedule for a launch by May 2027.
In an interview after his speech, Ivey said he had seen “some things floating around” about changes the incoming administration might seek to make to Goddard and its programs. One question, he said, will be the level of influence Musk will have on NASA programs versus the White House and agency leadership.
“I’m not exactly sure how it’s going to play out, but my hope is that they can figure out a way to protect science, protect R&D,” he said. “It may be that the only voices that they’re listening to are voices that deal with defense or competing with China, but those fit to what we need to do overall as well.”
He added he was open to proposals to increased commercialization of NASA programs, citing the progress by SpaceX. “They’re doing some stuff that’s actually pretty interesting and efficient.”
Ivey said he has yet to meet with Jared Isaacman, who Trump announced last month was his pick to be NASA administrator. He noted Isaacman would likely be focusing his congressional outreach for now on the Senate, which will have to confirm his nomination. He projected that confirmation would take place around March, after senators deal with nominees for Cabinet posts.
While he has not met Isaacman, Ivey suggested that he supported the nomination. “I don’t mind a fresh start.”
