NASA ‘Athena’ lander set to touch down on moon’s surface
Fox News senior correspondent Jonathan Serrie joins ‘The Faulkner Focus’ to discuss NASA’s moon lander descending towards the lunar surface and a stranded astronaut denying claims that politics played a role in delaying his retrieval.Â
While issues at NASA grew under former President Joe Biden, the space agency prioritized embedding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives into its workforce, according to a new report from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.
Amid preparations for its Starliner capsule mission — which ultimately went awry, leaving two astronauts stranded in space — NASA spent more than $13 million on related efforts between 2021 and 2024. During the ongoing Starliner spaceship debacle, an Inspector General report highlighted even further shortcomings by the agency, particularly related to quality control around NASA’s efforts to return astronauts to the moon.
Simultaneously, while NASA was facing these mission-critical deficiencies, it was also reportedly taking substantial steps to embed DEI into agency practices through a variety of avenues, including grants, contracts, employee guidance, agency-wide strategic equity commitments, book talks and more.
NEW STUDY REVEALS ‘STAGGERING’ SCOPE OF HOW MUCH DEI WAS INFUSED INTO GOVERNMENT UNDER BIDEN
During President Donald Trump’s first term, he sought to root out DEI programs in the federal government, similar to his efforts today. Before ending his first term, in September 2020, Trump signed an executive order to combat race and sex stereotyping within federal government programs. His order was rescinded just a few months later by the Biden administration. During former President Joe Biden’s first few days in office, he signed several executive orders aimed at embedding the equity considerations Trump sought to get rid of in federal government programs.
While issues at NASA compounded under Joe Biden, the space agency continued to embed diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives into its workforce, according to a new report from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.