On Wednesday, November 19, an all-hands meeting was held for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) with Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Nicola Fox and Goddard’s Acting Center Director Cynthia Simmons. They spoke to their professional trajectories and backgrounds, Fox calling Goddard “home” and Simmons speaking of her 26 years at the center. Both avowed their commitment to its future.
Attendees were told in advance that there would be no chance to ask questions. Several attendees noted the abundance of cheerleading but scarcity of information. The News Review obtained an audio recording of the meeting.
Communication
GSFC Director of Communications Patrick Lynch opened the meeting blaming the government shutdown for a lapse in communications at Goddard. “A lot of this we would have done in October,” he said, though the moves at Goddard and problems with communication about them began prior to the shutdown (see the September 25 issue). Lynch spoke about the beginning of a period of sustained communication and meetings that will include individual question-and- answer sessions and town halls with each directorate on the campus. “As you all know we’re at an inflection point for the center,” said Lynch.
Commitment to Goddard
Simmons gave a lengthy history of her love for NASA. She spoke of how Apollo had inspired her and how she had arrived at Goddard as a contractor in 2000. Every one of her jobs at NASA was to “fix something,” she said. “Some of you may have seen stuff out in the media. I didn’t spend 26 years of my life here to destroy this place.”
Simmons emphasized that she was 46 days into the position of acting center director, which she began on August 1 after previously serving as deputy director.
Simmons praised the employees and touted the importance of Goddard. “Transformation happens. Change happens. Goddard has a phenomenal legacy,” said Simmons. She highlighted inspiring missions, such as Dragonfly and DAVINCI, as well as the center’s importance in disaster recovery, as a search and rescue hub for the world and for open data science that is “critical for the world.”
Fox also gave an introduction, praising the Roman team in particular, calling them “wizards,” and said the shutdown had shown how missed NASA was when its science went quiet for six weeks. “People miss us,” she said.
“I don’t fight every freaking day for NASA science to shut down Goddard,” said Fox. “We are committed to it.” She said she was committed to being at Goddard more often going forward, as she was at other centers. She also said she was committed to future meetings where people would be able to ask questions.
Administration Priorities
“We work for a government agency. Our role is to enact the administration priorities,” said Fox. “We are part of the executive branch. And we like it ‒ that’s what we do; that’s why we work here. The agency is focused on ‘Moon to Mars.’ Goddard is at the center of what we do ‘Moon to Mars.’” She continued, jokingly, “NASA science ‒ you only need us if you want to come home alive, right?” The Moon to Mars project is to advance crewed lunar missions, sustain human presence and exploration on the moon and use that as a stepping stone to human presence on Mars.
DRPs and Staffing Cuts
At its height, GSFC had 10,000 people on its campus. However, they’ve had a “flat budget,” explained Simmons, who said at the meeting that the campus had now lost a third of its staff since that heyday. It took a big hit from the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) and the “fork in the road.” “My commitment as deputy director of Goddard was how can we navigate, how can I help us navigate,” she stated. GSFC will move forward with “missions that are surely coming,” though there will likely still be a hiring freeze for civil servants, she said. They’ll be partnering with the commercial world.
Building Consolidations
“We have capabilities spread through a campus where one third of us are gone. That means buildings are very low occupancy,” explained Simmons. “One through 37 are our numbers,” she said, seemingly reporting the buildings to be vacated. She pointed to buildings built in the 1960s, engineers wearing gators, having to cover equipment in tarps and the ability to save costs by consolidating. Buildings to the west of Goddard Road are not going to be demolished, she said, “We’re moving it and consolidating so it costs less money. We can take advantage of capacity in the newer buildings. … I want to modernize this campus.”
Care for Hardware
Simmons and Fox did not address how moves were taking place, the lack of notice and communication being given to those impacted or concerns the News Review has heard about how equipment is being treated during the moves or “excessed” if there was nowhere to move it to. Instead, Simmons spoke of how those who took DRPs had only two weeks to clean out their offices which they had sometimes occupied for decades. She said that quick vacating of offices had meant they’d found spaceflight hardware in boxes she wouldn’t even use to pack things at home. That kind of hardware can’t be used on missions if they couldn’t account for its “pedigree”, said Simmons, who said hardware was left without documentation. “It looks like a disaster film in some areas,” said Simmons. “They left stuff that we have to caretake so we’ve been inventorying during the shutdown,” she said of the equipment seemingly abandoned by those who took the fork-in-the-road option. She said that if employees have things they need to “save” they can notify HR individuals she identified in the room or within their directorate. “We have no intention of displacing your stuff ‒ which is our stuff, by the way, our stuff, NASA stuff. We have an obligation and commitment to taxpayers to take care of our stuff.” Asset management is one of the projects they’re going to do, she told those at the meeting.
Reception
Simmons did not broach the question of why those ordered to vacate their offices for moves are receiving little communication and in some cases one week notice, according to emails obtained by the News Review, half the two-week timeline she hinted was problematic under DRPs. The same day as the all-hands meeting one of our Goddard sources said they and many of their colleagues had found themselves locked out of an area of their building without notice and unable to access their equipment still there. He told the News Review a briefing notification he received stated that Simmons and Fox would discuss NASA and Goddard’s near- and long- term mission objectives and provide details on the campus consolidation efforts taking place. He did not hear mission objectives and details at that meeting, he said, but rather the ongoing issues were ignored and it was filled with life stories, fond remembrances and what he believes amounts to “gaslighting.” Another News Review source said the town hall had mixed reviews, with some appreciating Simmons’ candidness and others insulted by the dismissal of “reports in the media.” A third source we spoke with described the all-hands meeting as “all platitudes and rah-rah Goddard” with no questions allowed and no real information. One source suggested that Simmons and Fox are under pressure to shrink Goddard to forestall a closure and others suggested the two may not be fully aware of what is happening.
Employees were told there would be an internal website answering FAQs and future town halls to address questions were promised. A source told the News Review a cursory FAQ has now been posted but is not particularly detailed. There is now an internal website to host updates and information.
