--- title: "NASA Moving Out of Entire Buildings as It’s Gutted by Trump" description: "NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is making drastic changes following severe budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration." date: "2025-09-23" modified: "2025-09-23" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/space/nasa-moving-out" categories: - "Future Society" - "James Webb Space Telescope" - "NASA" - "Space" --- # NASA Moving Out of Entire Buildings as It’s Gutted by Trump ![NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is making drastic changes following severe budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration.]() *NASA / Futurism* NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) — the country's [largest organization]() of Earth and space scientists, engineers, and technologists in Greenbelt, Maryland — is [making drastic changes]() following severe budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. According to an internal memo sent to staffers [obtained by *NASA Watch*](), the center is kicking off a "series of moves" that will "reduce our footprint into fewer buildings" as soon as this week. The memo shows a surprising degree of urgency. "Unlike previous large-scale Center reconfigurations, which occurred over a number of years, all planned moves will take place over the next several months and will be completed by March of 2026," the memo reads. The significance of the GSFC in the history of NASA can't be overstated. It's [played a key role]() in the development of NASA's groundbreaking James Webb and Hubble space telescopes, alongside countless other key missions — yet its future is now uncertain as Trump moves to realign the agency's goals away from science and toward space exploration. In a statement, the GSFC said the downsizing plans were devised long before the Trump administration began slashing agency budgets this year. "Goddard Space Flight Center leadership is taking the first steps this week at the Greenbelt and Wallops Flight Facility campuses toward moving into a right-sized footprint of office and technical space," the center wrote in a statement to *Futurism*. "The transformation plan follows a 20-year Master Plan that was approved at the agency level in 2019 and has been guiding all campus infrastructure decisions since then." The [Master Plan](), which was developed during president Donald Trump's first term, centers around meeting "affordability goals" while modernizing, demolishing, and renovating existing facilities. Still, the timing of the memo is noteworthy. In its 2026 budget request, the White House's Office of Management and Budget suggested cutting the space agency's funding by [24 percent](), effectively canceling dozens of current and future science projects and space missions. It would be the biggest single-year drop in funding in the space agency's history, [erasing nearly half]() of NASA's science budget. The GSFC itself could [lose nearly half]() its roughly 1,700 civil servants. Democratic lawmakers have [warned that]() the cuts could have "irreversible impacts on America’s space leadership and capabilities." And a [report by a commercial lobbying group]() recently found that the brutal cuts at NASA are effectively abdicating its lead in the space race to China. Whether the proposed changes will go into effect remains unclear even months after the budget was [first released](). A looming government shutdown currently [has Congress racing]() to find stopgap measures to keep NASA funded. The new fiscal year begins just over a week from now, but Congress has yet to pass its final budget. As [*Ars Technica* points out](), nobody knows for sure what would happen to NASA's budget in the event of a government shutdown. However, sources told the publication last week that interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy had directed the agency to work toward a far [more lenient House Appropriations Committee budget bill](), which would keep its funding level nearly identical. But that's far from a guarantee, leaving the fate of the space agency and the GSFC largely unknown. **More on NASA:** [*New Report Finds That China’s Space Program Is Rapidly Outstripping NASA*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()