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    Nasa cuts raise fears of handing more influence to SpaceX owner Musk | Fired workers warn cuts including closing of two offices will undermine agency work and increase costs
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    Nasa cuts raise fears of handing more influence to SpaceX owner Musk | Fired workers warn cuts including closing of two offices will undermine agency work and increase costs


    Nasa cuts raise fears of handing more influence to SpaceX owner Musk | Fired workers warn cuts including closing of two offices will undermine agency work and increase costs

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/18/nasa-cuts-elon-musk-spacex

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    15 Comments

    1. bigredthesnorer on

      In my view, this is the primary reason that Musk pushed his way into the administration. DOGE is his vehicle into running NASA, but he’s also getting distracted along the way by eliminating barriers to his other businesses. All the while operating under the fallacy of reducing government spending.

    2. muchomemes on

      What’s the metric used to gauge fears? Has fears risen by 2, 5, maybe 42? Does this comment make as much sense as this headline from a supposedly trustworthy news source?

    3. AdRoutine8022 on

      Ah yes, the classic ‘save money by spending more money later’ strategy. What could possibly go wrong?

    4. Enough_Wallaby7064 on

      Correct me if I am wrong, but NASA isn’t exactly in the business of building rockets anymore. They will have the SLS for manned missions to the moon but the development of it has been such a disaster that they were turning to outside companies for rides to space anyway.

      Its not like Space X is developing probes or landers.

    5. Stardustquarks on

      As if that’s not the impetus behind all of Elon Hitler’s actions. Everything this administration is doing is to line their pockets – they care nothing for the country or space research/exploration – they want to loot the country be it by dismantling the infrastructure, or by destroying anything that is competition to their own companies

    6. PilotPirx73 on

      Some NASA programs are just job creation schemes. There was no good reason to mandate creation of Frankenstein new rocket from Shuttle’s “spare parts”. 2 decades later, the rocket flew once at the cost of 4 billion per launch, costing taxpayers billions in costs and truly holding back US space program. That program needs to be cancelled and money spent elsewhere.

    7. Different-Age-1253 on

      I love how maga is all anti immigrants but are down with an immigrant literally destroying their country from within. Big brain moves😂

    8. hardy_83 on

      Yeah I mean at this point I fully expect NASA to be taken over by profiteers and all innovation go out the window and it ends up a mess like Russias space agency where they have trouble just launching anything let alone actual people in space.

      This will of course benefit China overall. Possibly give Europe a way to make inroads.

    10. ranger0293 on

      I don’t get how firing preliminary employees (less than 2 years of service) is efficient in any way. Is there something about new employees that is inherently less efficient? How does simplly blanket firing a group of completely unrelated people translate into an increase in efficiency?

    11. BeerPoweredNonsense on

      Personal opinion. Musk – either intentionally or by accident, who knows what happens in his brain – has kindly provided a trap that his opponents are rushing to jump into.

      >Critics have accused Nasa of preferential treatment towards Musk’s business empire. “Simultaneously awarding his private companies with billions of dollars in federal contracts raises grave questions as to whether you and your agencies are enabling corrupt favoritism to benefit Mr Musk,” the US senators Adam Schiff and Tammy Duckworth wrote to Nasa last month.

      Yes. It’s quite scary, and unprecedented. At the same time – critics need to have at hand a list of *cheaper alternatives* to SpaceX. Because it’s going to be very hard to scream “corruption!” when the new contracts are being awarded to the best supplier.

      Fox News (and others) will love this. “Tear up this $200m contract with SpaceX!”. Interviewer then asks “who should take over the contract?”. Answer… “erm. ULA says they can do it for $400m”.

    12. letdogsvote on

      Uh, increasing the influence of Musk and money flow to SpaceX is kind of the point here folks.

    13. Basicyeti837 on

      I just assumed NASA cuts were made for the express purpose of benefiting and enriching Musk personally. So… duh. This administration can be summed up in one word: Grift.

    14. Decronym on

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      | |[MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacDonald,_Dettwiler_and_Associates), owner of SSL, builder of Canadarm|
      |[SLS](/r/Space/comments/1je6adr/stub/mig77k3 “Last usage”)|Space Launch System heavy-lift|
      |SSL|Space Systems/Loral, satellite builder|
      |[STS](/r/Space/comments/1je6adr/stub/mig77k3 “Last usage”)|Space Transportation System (*Shuttle*)|
      |[ULA](/r/Space/comments/1je6adr/stub/mig77k3 “Last usage”)|United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture)|

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    15. Ok_Internal9295 on

      I don’t believe it has anything to do with SpaceX. While it does suck, NASA has federal government positions and therefore must deal with the federal-wide cuts. Even the Missle Defense Agency (MDA) is dealing with cuts and they’re obviously going to be a big player in Trump’s Golden Dome (formerly Iron Dome) plan. SpaceX doesn’t face cuts because they’re not federal employees.

      Could it hand more influence to SpaceX? Sure, but I don’t believe it would be because Elon is doing anything underhanded. NASA and SpaceX collaborate on a lot of stuff, so I don’t think this should be considered a NASA vs. SpaceX issue.