NASA in front of a conservative turn: end of diversity and internal threats

NASA is the American federal agency where working conditions are most appreciated by its employees for the past 12 years. Perhaps it is ancient history with the coming to power of a Donald Trump wishing to upset the ideology of the space administration.

We know the obsession of the new president about “wokism” (being “awake”, aware of social inequalities), that his great friend Elon Musk, SpaceX boss with the command book filled with contracts with the NASA. Let us take stock of this battle of ideas which will have potentially historical consequences on space missions.

The diversity banned in NASA, threats as a bonus?

Appointed shortly after Trump's inauguration, Janet Petro was the daughter of an engineer who participated in the Mercury of NASA, the first to have sent an American in space. She is also the first woman to occupy the position of directors (temporary) of NASA and director of the Kennedy space center (KSP, since 2021). Two responsibilities that are both prestigious and influential.

Here is what she declared when she took office at the KSP: “I supervised many minorities throughout their professional trips. And as director, I am determined to direct the Kennedy space center towards a diversified and inclusive environment where everyone can prosper and express their opinions safely. ”

It is however the same Janet Petro who, once at NASA controllers, asks to remove the inclusive diversity program, including blocked recruitments overnight.

Internal notes circulated on this sudden turnaround, explaining that “These programs have divided the Americans by race, wasted the dollars of taxpayers, and resulted in shameful discrimination.” But Janet Petro went much further, which would not have been claimed according to certain sources. She thus demanded from NASA employees that they denounce actions which, between the election of Donald Trump in November and his taking office in January, would have encouraged the program ofi in “Disgurating their intentions and using coded languages”. And if such acts were to be known, but not denounced, harmful consequences would follow for silent …

In the famous and terrifying 1984 From George Orwell, the narrator participates in the reshuffle of historic archives so that the past sticks to the changing vision of leaders. Thus, when a war broke out against an ally, all works, archives, etc., must be rewritten so that it becomes a hereditary enemy.

Last victim to date: Vera Rubinimmense astronomer to whom we owe, among other things, the observation that the speed of the stars on the outskirts of the galaxies is only explained by the presence of an invisible material, called black today. She was also a great activist for women's rights, becoming for example the first to obtain – of high struggle – the right to use the very male observatory of Mont Palomar (the largest telescope in the world from 1949 to 1975).

The ultra modern spatial observatory Vera-C.-Rubin, which will soon be operational in Chile, recently saw its web presentation of the illustrious scientist modified to minimize this aspect of his life. A passage mentions that “Science is always an area dominated by menat a time when we write these lines. The reference is nevertheless very different: “Vera worked even harder to help other women to evolve in what was, during her career, an area very dominated by men. Certainly, its militant action is not ignored, but we therefore learn that this fight is now over by the recent addition “During his career”.

Beyond the problematic aspect as to historical truth, one wonders what will happen to Christina Koch and Victor Glover, respectively first astronaut and first African-American woman before flying over the moon, then landing, During Artemis missions. The situation is all the more delicate since Elon Musk himself, via his company SpaceX, is contractually linked to this program.