In the corridors of NASA NASA buildings, pride flags and images Women celebrate Science They are going down. Scientists are adding space mission stickers to cover the laptops, rainbows and other symbols LGBT + support. Staff are scratching Pronouns They try to interview their email signatures and darkness.
These changes and others are mixed through NASA, which involves cleaning the programs that Diversity, equity and inclusion (Call) throughout the agency. Directive to do this came from President Donald Trump, issued on January 20 Order to remove call initiatives throughout the federal government.
“I get a sunken sensation in my stomach when I need to check my email,” the early career scientist asked them to be anonymous because of concerns about career opportunities. “Every time I review,” God, God, will be there? “
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Nature He spoke to NASA scientists about the influence of his deviations, and heard of anger, fear and confusion. Although the application affects all federal agencies, they feel enthusiastic about NASA, which has a long history of working for inclusiveness. In 2020, Trump was appointed Jim Bridenstine and then entered the list of the basic values of the agency, integrity, integrity, group work and excellence. The fifth value has been removed from many NASA websites.
“How do you go that something so important is that a column (agency), removed everything?” He asks Julie Rathbun, the planetary scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca in New York.
“It feels like NASA’s betrayal,” says Kas, a geophysical planet at the University of Alaska at the Fairbanks. “It’s effective, it’s in vain, and it’s just a mess.”
In a statement, NASA said the agency is committed to achieving the best talent for driving innovation and is committed to our role. As new orientation is included, we are working to adhere to the new requirements properly. “
Modified agency
The impulse for the inclusivity of NASA is one of which can be seen in the US government. In the 1950s and 1960s, all the astronauts of the Agency were white men. 1978. It was bent to the internal and external pressure and choosing several women and colored people to fly into space. Today, NASA astronauts, as well as science and engineering teams around the world, are also varied.
But NASA’s space is disappearing. Yes, both official edicts are the condition of removing pronouns such as employee email signatures, and non-official notes, such as verbal suggestions to remove flags or other screens from work spaces.
Trump changes have also stopped projects for employee affinity organizations and Horbar; Groups from military veterans to Asian Americans and the Pacific Islands, black employees. Before January 20, NASA celebrated the efforts of groups with bright web articles, with many deleted web articles.
“These groups worked for a good deal. We post things in a way of working with screen readers, so visual disabilities can reach our content,” says a senior scientist NASA, he asked for anonymity to avoid reprisals. “Or bring Star Trek Legends to inspire staff”. The works of these groups “promotes fear,” the scientist says, because the staff are concerned because they may be aimed at participation.
Other cancellations form a program that graduated from the highlights of the planet’s active missions, allowing students to observe scientists at work.
Many NASA staff are angry about the changes of the call, but still they work to work. “We believe in the mission, and we know that our work is important,” he says the main scientist. “We know it is important for the nation.”
Grassroots protest
As a federal employee, NASA staff cannot return against changes, they do not necessarily accept efforts, a community working group that works in the best practices in NASA. NASA external space scientists rejected the advantages of the agency to launch the various communities. They wrote a lot of them Open letter to NASA leadership Changes protested on February 6, which has collected more than 1,000 signatures.
Many of these scientists have worked with NASA in calling themes. For example, researchers analyzed call practices that improve science, and have worked with NASA to integrate these approaches into their financing programs. These are a system for reviewing proposals for the use of facilities, such as Hubble Space Telescope – Change that reduces gender and other bias – Request plans for access to the agency funded research and awareness of the barriers to participation.
“For Nasa, so many scientists ignore it for years, hell blends away,” Rathbun says.
Alienation and determination
The garbage “is basically indigenous peoples, women are not really Nasan,” Hilling Neilson, Sternunland, Canada, Canada and Mi’Kmaw Mi’kmaw in Mi’kmaw. . “That’s a huge and embarrassing way, which will set the back of the NASA back, if not longer.”
Some researchers within and outside the agency double in their scientific and technical projects while they live as well as possible according to their values.
“You can move the websites and tell people to not put their pronouns in their emails, but it doesn’t mean that they will not use appropriate pronouns for their colleagues,” says Sarah Hoopkins, Plantic Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore, Maryland.
Others are alienating with the actions of the agency. For the early career scientist, it is a huge distraction from their work: “Can I pay attention to my science, please?”
This article reproduces with permission and has been First posted On February 14, 2025.
