In a grand show of unity, all seven living former Associate Administrators of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate have signed a joint letter opposing the Trump administration’s proposed 47% cut to NASA’s 2026 science budget. They “unanimously urge Congress to reject the proposed cuts to NASA’s budget” and request that the NASA Science Mission Directorate retain its 2025 budget.
The seven signatories — John Grunsfeld, Alphonso Diaz, Lennard Fisk, Wesley Huntress, Alan Stern, Edward Weiler, and Thomas Zurbuchen — warn the “indiscriminate cut” would end dozens of current and future missions, “severely [damaging] a peerless and immensely capable engineering and scientific workforce” and “needlessly [putting] to waste billions of dollars of taxpayer investments.” Furthermore, the budget cut would eliminate the United States as a global leader in space science, ceding power to China and other nations.
They also call attention to the numerous benefits of NASA’s science programs, which only comprise about 3% of NASA’s total budget. “The economics of these proposed cuts ignore a fundamental truth: investments in NASA science have been and are a powerful driver of the U.S. economy and technological leadership,” the authors write in the letter, pointing to successful missions like the Mars rovers, the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Parker Solar Probe, among many others.
“These activities inevitably result in novel technologies, algorithms, and advanced materials, while advancing the experience and knowledge of NASA engineers. Collectively these have direct, positive, and measurable benefits to our economy and our national security,” they write.
The letter is just the latest major response to the proposed NASA budget cuts. The Planetary Society, a nonprofit space advocacy organization, previously called the proposed cuts “an extinction-level event” for NASA science. The organization’s “Save NASA Science” campaign collected more than 20,000 signatures from constituents across all 50 U.S. states and more than 100 countries. Additionally, bipartisan groups in both the House and the Senate have issued their own letters opposing the budget cut.
“NASA’s science programs enjoy broad public and bipartisan support for good reason: NASA science delivers for the American people, providing broad direct benefits in addition to giving citizens the awe and inspiration that only NASA can provide,” write the former NASA science chiefs in this newest letter. “The science that NASA produces results in a positive view of America at home and around the world. They are a visible example of what makes America great.”
