Almost the first words the NASA employees heard from their acting administrator was the end of the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts within the agency.
In an email earlier today, Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro stated, in part:
Notice the use of “Radical” in the executive order and the Office of Personnel Management email address including “truth,” favorite words of the incoming administration. Are we using federal dollars for this latest “witch hunt” (to use more of the favorite words)? None of this will help to calm the fears of hard-working NASA employees trying to focus on space missions rather than the political silliness in Washington, DC.
It does make you wonder what is coming down the road. For example, the Artemis mission on NASA’s website is pretty clear in terms of what it hopes to accomplish:
Will the goal of landing the first woman, person of color, and international partner be seen as encouraging too much diversity? The Artemis II crew, shown below, already meets the mission profile, but maybe that will change with the Artemis III crew that lands on the Moon. At this point, it would not be too surprising ito find the Artemis III crew consists of four white billionaires using a rover as a golf cart to hit balls across the lunar surface.
We’ll see what happens, as they say.
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