WASHINGTON — Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation added their voices to concerns about the closure of offices and labs at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
In a Nov. 13 letter to NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy, nine of the 10 members of Maryland’s congressional delegation presented a list of questions about ongoing efforts to consolidate office and lab space at Goddard, located in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“Unfortunately, actions taken during the last nine months threaten the workers at Goddard and their ability to lead the world in this science and exploration,” they wrote, citing deferred resignations and reductions in force that they say have cut the number of civil servants and contractors there by thousands.
“To that end, we have heard from employees and read reports about activities taking place on the Greenbelt campus that have raised questions among the workforce about the motivations and timing of building consolidations and how such moves may affect institutional research capabilities,” they stated. “We believe that any consolidation on the Greenbelt campus must sustain the world-class capabilities of Goddard for future science and exploration missions and comply with all applicable laws.”
The letter included a list of questions about plans to close buildings at Goddard, forcing staff to move their offices and raising concerns about the center’s ability to support development and testing of missions like the Roman Space Telescope. They asked for answers to those questions by Nov. 17.
The letter was signed by Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks and Reps. Steny Hoyer, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, Glenn Ivey, Sarah Elfreth, April McClain Delaney and Johnny Olszewski Jr., all Democrats. The only member of the Maryland delegation who did not sign the letter was Rep. Andy Harris, the delegation’s lone Republican.
The Maryland letter comes three days after Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Science Committee, sent her own letter to Duffy about the consolidations at Goddard. In that letter she called for an immediate halt to the work out of fears that it would put projects there at “great risk.”
The letter demanded that Duffy stop the facilities closures at Goddard and confirm that in writing to her within 24 hours. A committee source told SpaceNews Nov. 13 that NASA had not yet provided a formal response.
Asked to comment on Lofgren’s letter, NASA provided a statement from Goddard’s acting center director, Cynthia Simmons.
“GSFC has had a longstanding plan to consolidate its footprint at its multiple campuses, formulated beginning in 2017 and approved in 2019. Two years ago, a plan to expedite certain portions of the consolidation was formulated, and implementation began earlier this year,” Simmons stated.
That plan predated the administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget request “and all plans have been carefully coordinated with mission project managers of missions in implementation and NASA agency leadership to ensure there is no impact to flight mission cost or schedule,” she added [emphasis in original]. The consolidation is intended to save $10 million a year in operations costs and $63.8 million in deferred maintenance costs.