Keith’s note: NASA’s budget is going to be slashed one way or another. Despite all the talk about making NASA more focused – or efficient – or “greater”, NASA science will suffer. Scores of missions will either be canceled, shutdown, or put on indefinite pause. Meanwhile Europe and our officially designated foe China surge ahead to fill gaps that we have created. NASA has yet to find the secret sauce wherein they can walk and chew gum at the same time. i.e. do astonishing things that no one has done before while conveying the scientific value of these accomplishments to decision makers and simultaneously, the practical, everyday utility to people and families as they try and make it through their daily lives. For what it is worth, as I have noted before: NASA has led space science and “Made America Great In Space” for more than half a century. Let’s not let that science leadership fade. Let’s expand it further. This won’t happen on its own. NASA must get its act together, find its mojo again, and put forth the multiple reasons why we should use and explore space – tailored to the various audiences who need – and deserve – to be informed. One size does not fit all. While NASA needs to learn how to explain itself to citizens and policymakers, how it explains its accomplishments on the global stage should be simple. Very simple – since NASA has led the way by:

• touching the sun
• visiting every planet in our solar system
• discovering over 6,000 planets orbiting other stars
• launched the first weather and Earth resource satellites
• sending humans to walk on another world
• doing the first offworld search for life
• moving an asteroid
• finding water on the Moon and Mars
• discovering oceans inside icy moons
• sailing across interstellar space
• peering back to the dawn of the universe
• developing a global brand that all nations aspire to

Keith’s note: OK so I am ‘back’. Thanks for all the kind words, support etc. Let’s get down to business. The month of September is going to be the hardest yet for NASA. Multiple budget profiles will collide with one another – in an inelastic fashion. Missions will be on hold and operate in holding pattern mode. Other missions will simply die at the hands of budgeteers. And the people of NASA – regardless of where their paycheck comes from – will still be called upon to lead humanity’s exploration of space while being stressed from multiple directions. Meanwhile, the political people inside the glass doors on the 9th floor of NASA HQ simply don’t care what happens to the agency’s workforce – or keeping them informed. As if you had not already figured that out. That said, NASA is already ‘Great In Space”. No “Again” required. Despite the political rhetoric over the years, NASA has begun humanity’s expansion into interstellar space (see image). No one else has done that. And NASA’s lead will be rather hard to eclipse. Anyway – here is my top ten take on things to be aware of in September . Warning – it is not pretty – but it is also not without hope. [More below]

Keith’s note: Special thanks to some NASA JPL folks who called me on Friday – out of the blue – people I did not know – until now. While some temporary NASA HQ employees try to destroy America’s space exploration leadership by decimating the agency’s workforce, the people who actually do the exploring will remain undeterred and undaunted. #DareMightyThings

Keith’s note: I posted this note elsewhere last night wherein I wear my heart on my spacesuit sleeve. Oh well. Things change quickly. The latest Executive Order banning unions at NASA pushed me over the edge. That said, this note is still where my head is at. I originally thought that I’d just dial things down, live in the woods with my wife, and people would just go elsewhere for NASA tidbits. Well, I am flattered and rather shocked at the sheer number supportive emails and notes I have gotten in the past week – many of them rather long – mostly from people I simply did not know. I do now. That said, here’s my original note. Please take care of yourselves but do NOT stop the fight to keep the enemies of NASA from destroying American space exploration leadership. If not now, then when? – if not you, then who?

• Earlier note: FYI Actor Bruce Willis, 70, is suffering from dementia. I will be 70 in 2 months. I lost two parents to Alzheimer’s. Life is short. Talent and a lifetime of memories can evaporate in a moment. If you are wondering why I am on hiatus from NASAWatch this is part of the reason why. It takes a toll – especially after 30 years of doing it. I came out of retirement and was (re)running it at 125% of capacity – and still the attack on NASA continued – undaunted. I am just one person. Unless many, many more stand up and speak out then there is little else that I can do that I have not already done. But I guess I will try (again) – but not just yet. Ad Astra y’all

Keith’s note: I just saw this Space Frontier Foundation post over on Facebook “Why does space still struggle to compete for attention, resources, and belief?” My answer: Because you space people cannot read the room outside your space bubble where the rest of humanity lives – the people who pay for the whole space party one way or another. The same people who struggle to pay bills and stay afloat. Link your dreams to their needs and you will get more support. If people do not understand your interest then find a new way to talk to them – in ways that resonate with them – not with other space fans. Otherwise just sit down.

Keith’s note: Joe Rothenberg, former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Flight and former Director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, had this to say last night on LinkedIn: “What is happening at NASA has long term and potentially unrecoverable consequences to U.S. scientific and technology leadership in not only space but in technology that impacts our quality of life on Earth. Clearly the actions of the current Administration and NASA leadership have mortgaged America’s space and scientific research capabilities, well beyond the point of being able to be recovered by any potential restoration of funding by Congress. The nation’s space program in its early days inspired career pursuits in science and engineering, resulting in not only America’s leadership in space, but in developing technology that has significantly improved medical, communications, and numerous quality of life applications. America now faces the strong possibility of the reverse happening, the indiscriminate cuts in our nation’s scientific research program budgets, and government and civilian workforce, will discourage the next generation from pursuing careers in engineering and sciences. The implications of which are not only loss of leadership in these areas, but also a signicant weakening of our economic and military leadership and a continued downward position of the U.S. on the world stage.”

Keith’s note: According to “CBS News poll: Most Americans favor U.S. returning to moon, going to Mars“: “There is a lot of public favor for the idea of the U.S. returning to the moon, and also for eventually going to Mars. About two-thirds do, while a third does not. Younger Americans who are not old enough to remember the first moon landing are especially in favor, perhaps looking forward to seeing that exploration in their lifetimes. These views generally cut across ideological and party lines, as well.”

Keith’s note: This was written and originally posted here by Mark V. Sykes, Ph.D., J.D. Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute: “This statement is my opinion and does not reflect an official position of the Planetary Science Institute.: Institutions are reeling from the spray of executive orders from the White House since late January. Activities in support of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) have been particular targets, with the cancellation of large numbers of research and other grants and contracts and the bizarre purging of material from government websites (including, for a time, information about the airplane that dropped the first atomic bomb, the Enola Gay). (More below)

Keith’s note: According to “The first rule in Trump’s Washington: Don’t write anything down“ in The Washington Post:

• “Within the Interior Department, top officials are telling U.S. Geological Survey center directors not to put the words “reduction in force” or “RIF” – both terms for federal layoffs – in memos or emails, according to an employee there. At the Education Department, political appointees are scrambling to move staff around to make up for resignations and firings, but refusing to issue reassignments in writing, said a former staffer there.”

• “At one NASA center on the West Coast, staff no longer have conversations at their cubicles, an employee said: Any chats happen inside an office, with the door closed, and most people prefer to talk outside on the lawn, escaping the building entirely. “Nothing is written down,” the employee said. “Nothing.”

Keith’s note: I witnessed some utterly insane, idiotic, and foolish nonsense at NASA today – some in full view – a lot of it behind the scenes. Time to get back to the book I am reading – “No Picnic on Mt Kenya” which is about 3 Italian soldiers who broke out of a British POW camp during WWII in Africa to climb Mt Kenya – because why not – and then they went back to the camp. Crazy is my north star right now. Oh yes: Readers from 1996 era NASA RIF Watch may remember this image. This is what happens when you take out too many vital parts of a space thing. Or a space agency.

Keith’s note: Up until last year NASA always made mention of Juneteenth and what it represents to NASA and to our nation. Not any more. Why is that Janet?

Keith’s note: NASA is consolidating social media accounts (yes this was needed). The FY 2026 NASA Budget Request from the White House eliminates STEM funding, removes all public affairs staff at the field centers, cuts NASA HQ PAO staff, and reduces the overall communications and outreach budgets. And of course diversity, equity, and inclusion is now a forbidden concept. So where is the plan that NASA is following in order to do all of this? Is there a plan for this at NASA? Or does NASA just have a concept of a plan? One would assume that all of these dramatic changes to the public face of NASA are being done according to some overall guidance – yes? What follows are some random questions off the top of my head about the effective education and public outreach and engagement plan that the world’s pre-eminent space agency would need in order to continue to lead the way – and also expand that lead. Or maybe they don’t actually care to have a plan. Or know how. (More below)

Keith’s note: according to “What government programs should be slashed? NASA nears top of list, poll finds“ in the Miami Herald: “In the latest Marquette Law School Poll, 63% of respondents said they would be willing to reduce spending on NASA and its space program to shrink the federal budget deficit. Meanwhile, just 37% said they would not be willing to cut it. And just 5% said sending astronauts to Mars or back to the moon is a major priority, while 39% said this is important, but not a top concern. A majority, 56%, said it should not be a priority at all.” (deep sigh) NASA has touched the sun, visited every planet in our solar system, has spaceships traversing interstellar space, and has telescopes that look back toward the dawn of the universe – yet NASA Public Affairs and other communications and outreach efforts at the agency consistently fail to convey these awesome, exciting accomplishments to the public. Only NASA could make America’s unparalleled accomplishments in space exploration so boring that such a large portion of the public wants to cut space funding. Ad Astra y’all.

Keith’s note: a week ago I posted Erasing NASA Diversity Abstracts Is Not That Easy saying “The NASA DEI Erasure Squad has been busy. If you search for past LPSC abstracts on DEI, DEIA, diversity etc. you’ll see that they have disappeared and prior meeting agendas have been altered.” Well they have been busy and huge amounts of material are simply vanishing. USRA did this stealthily until too many people started to notice – only then did they have the notion that they should say something using some classic Orwellian Double Speak. (More below)

Keith’s note: according to a post by AIP “Republican-led States Angle for NASA Headquarters“ “Lawmakers in support of relocation across Texas, Florida, and Ohio all say that moving NASA’s headquarters out of DC would lower agency operating costs, save taxpayers money, improve efficiency, and provide a boost to their local economies. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) claims that relocation would save the agency “about a billion dollars.” When all is said and done in terms of moving costs, hiring new people to replace those who did not want to move, moving contractor support, etc. Costs at every one of the remaining centers that did not get any goodies would simply stay exactly the same. I sincerely doubt a billion dollars would be saved. And now all the coordination that might have happened in one building is spread out across thousands of miles inside the politically protected fortesses of a dozen field centers. In the end all you would do is move inter-center food fights to new zip codes. NASA HQ doesn’t need a new phone book or a new address NASA NEEDS A STRATEGIC PLAN WITH A RELIABLE AND REALISTIC BUDGET. Sorry for yelling.

Keith’s note: I give up. When female space youtubers like Eliana Sheriff @esherifftv go out of their way to mock a mission with women going into space – comparing them to chimpanzees – why should the rest of us even bother trying to knock down all the space misogyny. Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-B_ISPE3mc

Keith’s note: Yesterday 6 people on the Blue Origin NS-31 flight crossed the Kármán line and entered “space”. More people – some of prominence – now speak of the value of – and the awe encountered in – space. Alas, lots of space folks on social media say that they’re not “astronauts”. I wonder how many space fans would change their mind if they had a chance to do the same thing. Just sayin’. FWIW soon-to-be NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (an astronaut) said this from a more lofty perspective:

Keith’s note: This essay “The Only Thing Abandoned is the Truth – Preserving NASA’s Legacy Amidst a Vortex of Misinformation” was written by former NASA employee Amiko Kelly. As another former NASA employee it certain resonates with me. “I know what [NASA] stands for. I see what it inspires. Working for NASA wasn’t just a dream—it was a calling. I worked hard to get my foot in the door and even harder once there. Like many who have devoted their lives to space exploration, I’ve watched with heartbreak as misinformation chips away at the trust and admiration NASA earned. NASA was once among the most respected government agencies, symbolizing human achievement and possibility. But today, conspiracy theories, climate denial, and political distortions diminish decades of groundbreaking work.”

Keith’s note: You folks probably already know this but it bears repeating: more bad news is arriving. NASA managers have to implement orders from the White House and these orders suck big time. No deviation is allowed. These NASA managers are worried sick about this and are trying to protect y’all. But sooner or later it will come to them refusing to carry out orders – and they will be gone too. Speaking as a former NASA employee myself – a child of the Apollo era – the worst outcome would be for all of you – all of us – to forget why we wanted to work for NASA and why it is voted the most popular place in government to work year after year. Y’all made it that special place. No other agency is charted to explore the universe. Not even close. And the people who accept that challenge are what made America the leader in space exploration. You have touched the sun, visited every planet, and now sail across interstellar space. Never forget that. Ad Astra – Keith