NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say

NASA's flagship center for space science is under attack from within, and some of the biggest losses appear to be happening behind the curtain of the government shutdown.

Throughout the summer of 2025, Space.com interviewed nearly a dozen current and former NASA workers and reviewed several internal agency communications in an investigation into allegations of unlawful activity by NASA leadership — allegations supported in a recent report by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The conclusion: NASA has been prematurely and illegally implementing the President's 2026 budget request before Congress finalizes funding.

The workforce at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland, say this has put groundbreaking missions at risk, and is degr