The lack of foresight in this Admin with everything to do with science is appalling.

The first salvo was fired with the start of DOGE a little under a year ago- mass emails telling us to quit or risk being fired- I stayed on but told my co-workers that it was going to get much worse…

The second round of pressure started in June- and it was clear they were gutting the agency- half of Goddard was to be fired- I was one of the few that was ‘safe’ since I was on the ARTEMIS II project… but I would be losing much of my team and would be expected to do the jobs of all the contractors being fired- it was simply not possible, and I was NOT going to destroy myself because of the whims of a wannabe king. SO I took the buyout-a pittance compared to what I was owed if I was fired without cause- my severance in that condition was about a quarter million- but they made it clear NO ONE would get the severance they were legally owed….

So I quit, after sending some emails about certain people that had no business being in charge of the departments they were given power over… I also managed to save the jobs of most of my team, including some of the contractors- at least giving them a few more months, which was a minor miracle- nearly ALL contractors were to be the first to be cut.

I am proud that I was able to help many of my team stay on at NASA or find new jobs…

I was well positioned, my project that I started was getting recognition and commercial interest just as the new completely ignorant and unqualified NASA bureaucrat overseeing my funding was cutting it without even learning what we were doing…. so I took a job that paid higher, had better benefits, and let me work from home… and still get my NASA paycheck until January 9th and maybe an early retirement ‘bonus’ that is 10% of the severance I was actually due…

There was no planning in this cut in the workforce… just a general threat and a certainty that they would make life hell for those that remained… I had options after 16 years at NASA, most of the younger people on my team did not… but by luck I had made many of them indispensable for this administration’s goal of completing the Artemis II mission, and – even though the NASA Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program was nearly eliminated I managed to get one of my IRAD projects approved and saved- at least for a few months, hopefully more- one of our most dedicated contractor’s job…

I have written honest and exceptionally glowing letters of recommendation for people I worked with- from administrative assistants to Optical systems engineers… I have done what I could to help ensure the people on my team had the best options possible… and- so far, to my knowledge- I have accomplished that- many have gone on to higher paying jobs.

I felt guilty for leaving… but I do not regret my decision- I regret, and am angry as hell, that I was forced to make that decision… my plan was to stay at NASA until I retired, happily accepting lower pay than what I could make in industry in exchange for the freedom to create entirely new technologies and industries…

NASA will never recover from this gutting- many of the experts are going overseas- I very nearly did so myself. We are losing the world experts in many fields, and also losing the generation they would have trained.

Now… imagine being an astronaut on Artemis II, knowing the schedule has been accelerated for political reasons, knowing the top people ensuring your success and survival have been eliminated, and the remaining people have been demoralized and humiliated… how safe would you feel?

If Artemis II launches and is successful, and you see 4k video beamed down by laser while it is in flight – well that is the work My team did. If the mission ends in tragedy… well, I think its obvious who is responsible for that.

I pray it is successful- but if it is, it will be DESPITE the damage this administration has done- it will be due to dedicated people- mostly young people early in their career forced to continue the work while losing the support of all the people forced to quit or be fired.

And if some of that that video comes via a ground terminal in Australia – that is because of an international agreement I kicked off with a good human being and scientist over atrocious coffee at a conference in 2019… and the hard work he and his team did in collaboration with the exceptional team I was very lucky to have join in our efforts.

In the next year or 3 China will demonstrate dominance in lunar laser communications – and it will be communications capabilities that will determine the scale of what we can accomplish on the moon… at that point the US will be embarrassingly behind the rest of the world- and we will either spend immense wealth to attempt to catch up, or we will simply cede the future to China.

At that point the US will learn the hard way that destroying NASA and forcing its people overseas or into industry was tactically disastrous… I am not sure it will be possible for the us to ever regain the advantage. We have sold our entire future so a team of grifters could enrich themselves and their friends for a short period of time. We will become a helpless observer in the future others will create… or possibly the spoiler that destroys it all for everyone….

Keep in mind, they officially moved the launch date earlier, while at the same time firing their experts, creating chaos, and demoralizing the workforce…

I am VERY worried about how this will turn out