NASA is considering getting rid of its Washington, D.C., headquarters as part of the Trump administration’s effort to shrink the size of the federal government, according to a report.
The move could affect as many as 2,500 jobs at the space agency and redistribute operations to NASA’s 10 field centers, Politico reported Friday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
“The NASA headquarters building lease is up in 2028, and the agency is looking at options to lease a different facility in the Washington, D.C., area,” a NASA spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. “NASA does not have plans to build a new headquarters. In compliance with the executive order signed Jan. 20, NASA employees, including at NASA headquarters, returned to full-time onsite work by Feb. 28.”
It also comes after the administration recently let about 20 people go from its D.C. headquarters, including its chief scientist, according to The New York Times.
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Members of Congress earlier this year proposed moving NASA’s headquarters to Florida, where its Kennedy Space Center is located, or to Cleveland, home of its Glenn Research Center.
“This is a no-brainer for @DOGE,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said of moving NASA’s headquarters there. “Right now the Feds are planning on a building a new, expensive headquarters in DC for NASA — even though very few NASA employees have showed up to the current DC office over the past four years!”
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“To optimize our workforce, and in compliance with an executive order, NASA is beginning its phased approach to a reduction in force, known as a RIF,” Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokeswoman, said in an email, according to The New York Times. “A small number of individuals received notification Monday they are a part of NASA’s RIF.”
Much of the day-to-day work of NASA happens at its 10 field centers in eight states, but its Washington headquarters connects it more to Congress and the federal government, according to Politico.
In addition to limiting its influence within Washington, the absence of a D.C. headquarters would make coordinating with international partners on matters like the International Space Station more difficult.
NASA’s 10 field centers include Ames Research Center, Armstrong Flight Research Center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the Glenn Research Center in Ohio, the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, the Johnson Space Center in Texas, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Langley Research Center in Virginia, the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama and the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
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