NASA Ordered to End DEIA Initiatives — Is This the End of Inclusive Space Exploration?
29th Jan 2025
Returning US president, Donald Trump, has wasted no time repealing and axing various programs by executing controversial executive orders. One of those orders was to end all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives in federal divisions. Falling under that band and not absolved from Trump’s administrative orders is NASA.
Trump’s Executive Order Hits NASA
The US space agency recently circulated a memo confirming NASA’s obligation to end all DEIA programs within their remit. The media circus that ensued searched for confirmation of the DEIA ban, to which White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took to X saying: “to every reporter asking about this: I can gladly confirm!”
Context behind removing DEIA programs & effect on NASA
During Trump’s 2025 inauguration speech, he said: “we will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” referencing DEIA programs. Seeing as NASA is one of the US’ federal agencies, they are now positioned to terminate their string of DEIA projects and strategies. In late January, NASA released a statement announcing their removal of DEIA policies.
The statement read: “On January 20th, 2025, the President of the United States of America signed an Executive Order entitled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions”. This Order repealed Executive Order 14035 [DEIA]. To comply with this order, SMD is in the process of amending open Program Elements in ROSES-2024 to end the Inclusion Plan Pilot Study, remove requirements for Inclusion Plans and the evaluation factors associated with them, and adjust the content of some other Program Elements to remove references to NASA’s DEIA programs.”
The leaked memo confirming that NASA is culling their DEIA programs
Acting NASA Administrator, Janet Petro, outlined in a company-wide memo that all DEIA programs and their corresponding officers would cease operation. Petro wrote: “these programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.” In the aforementioned statement, NASA defined that some of the DEIA project elements set to be axed or amended include:
- Earth Surface & Interior
- The Science of PACE
- SERVIR Applied Sciences Team
- INjected Smoke & PYRocumulonimbus Experiment Science Team
- FarmFlux Science Team
- FORTE Science Team
- Here to Observe
- Strategic Astrophysics Technology
- LISA preparatory Science
Calling on NASA employees to whistleblow
Contained within Petro’s memo, she stated that NASA employees must report any breaches of Trump’s new executive orders. This includes amendments to DEIA contracts such as additions of ambiguous language to any “contract description or personal position description” that would secure roles or programs.

The memo called for any information to be reported within 10 days to avoid any “adverse consequences”. Petro said that any breach or willing avoidance to report information may entail inauspicious repercussions. Since the executive orders came into effect, many DEIA and associated mission pages connected to NASA controlled websites have been removed.
Other executive orders impacting NASA
Trump’s executive orders have rippled and echoed across the agency including the hiring freezes on Federal positions. Although NASA has been celebrated as the Best Place to Work in the Federal Government, they are now prohibited from onboarding new employees.
The purported reason behind the hiring freeze is to assess efficiency within government. Nonetheless, many agencies of the Federal government have been spared, namely, the Department of Defence. The executive orders enacted by Trump are fresh, so time will tell how adversely or positively they will impact NASA’s space operations.
about time