Overview

• NASA has begun archiving dozens of mission-related social media accounts, reducing its portfolio from more than 400 to about 35 to streamline outreach.
• The Trump administration’s FY2026 budget proposal calls for a 47% reduction in NASA’s science funding and a workforce cut of nearly one-third, shrinking staff from 17,391 to 11,853.
• Under the plan, 41 science missions would be canceled, including the Mars Sample Return program and the OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe, as focus shifts toward crewed lunar and Mars exploration.
• The agency remains without a full-time administrator after the White House withdrew support for Jared Isaacman due to past political donations.
• Astrophysicist Dr. Asa Stahl and others have deemed the proposal a “strategic mistake” that risks decimating NASA’s scientific endeavors and ceding space leadership to rivals such as China.