Trump’s DEI Purge Is Hitting NASA Hard

image via New Scientist

February 19, 2025, 1:00 PM

• •NASA is purging programmes involving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) throughout the agency.
• •The directive to do so came from US President Donald Trump, who on 20 January issued an order to eliminate DEI initiatives across the federal government.
• •NASA’s push towards inclusivity is one of the most visible in the US government. In the 1950s and 1960s, all of the agency’s astronauts were white men. By 1978, it had bowed to internal and external pressure and had chosen several women and people of colour to fly to space. Today, NASA’s astronauts, as well as its world-renowned scientific and engineering teams, are measurably diverse.

NASA is purging programmes involving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) throughout the agency. The directive to do so came from US President Donald Trump, who on 20 January issued an order to eliminate DEI initiatives across the federal government. Many NASA employees are angry about the changes to DEI, but are buckling down to work nevertheless.

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