NASA Moves to Terminate Diversity Programs Following Trump’s Orders

Less than a day after the Donald Trump administration terminated federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles, NASA was quick to implement an executive order ending its diversity program.

NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro sent this Memo On Wednesday afternoon, the agency directed employees to close the agency’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices and cancel related contracts. The decision comes to increase the diversity of NASA’s workforce and land the first woman and first person of color on the moon.

In 2023, there was NASA name As one of America’s top employers for diversity. NASA began involvement in the DEIA effort in 2012, adding inclusion as a core value in 2020. By 2021, NASA’s workforce will be made up of approximately 35% women and 30% minorities. Report by NASA’s Office of the Inspector General. after a year, NASA announced its first Equity Action Plan Seeking to address chronic diversity and accessibility issues and targeting underrepresented communities.

Petro’s memo, however, reflects the dismissal of the agency’s diversity program. “These programs have divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars and resulted in shameful disparities,” the memo reads. website for NASA’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity Currently displays a “404 Not Found” error message.

The memo highlighted that steps to close NASA’s DEIA offices followed Trump’s executive order, which was followed by a template from the Office of Personnel Management to be forwarded to employees.

The NASA email also included a warning against violating the new order, suggesting that the space agency’s employees are trying to hide contracts under its diversity program. “We are aware of some efforts by the government to disguise these programs using coded or imprecise language,” Petro’s memo read. “If you are aware of changes to any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideology, please report all facts and circumstances.”

NASA is not the only federal agency affected by the new executive order; Other agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, are being forced to close their diversity programs Diversity and inclusion efforts are crucial at organizations like NASA because of the lack of diversity in the field.

It wasn’t until 1978 that NASA selected its first diverse class of astronauts, a group that eventually included the first African-American and first Asian-American astronauts, and the first woman. The problem goes beyond just NASA. Black and Latino students tend to drop out of STEM programs at much higher rates than their white counterparts. About 40% of black and 37% of Latino STEM students changed majors as graduates, compared to 29% of white STEM students. According to a 2019 study.

Even if NASA lands a diverse team on the moon’s surface, efforts to be more inclusive on Earth should not be taken lightly.