Keith’s note: According to an email sent out late on Thursday: “On January 20th, 2025, the President of the United States of America signed an Executive Order entitled “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions”. This Order repealed Executive Order 14035, “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce.” It also directed agencies to take immediate action to identify and terminate DEIA initiatives and programs. To comply with this order, SMD is in the process of amending open Program Elements in ROSES-2024 to end the Inclusion Plan Pilot Study, remove requirements for Inclusion Plans and the evaluation factors associated with them, and adjust the content of some other Program Elements to remove references to NASA’s DEIA programs. Program elements that have already received proposals will not be amended, but if they required Inclusion Plans, those plans will not be reviewed and will not impact the selection of proposals. The program elements that will be amended include:” (long list below)

Keith’s note: According to this NASA Artemis page: “NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before.” The “first person of color“ phrase was added during the Biden Administration but the “first woman” line emerged during the Trump 1.0 Administration. Let’s see how the Diversity purge affects this popular opening line for NASA Artemis postings. As for the “first international partner” line …

Keith’s note: According to this email notice sent out today: “Amendment: Updates to Human Exploration Research Opportunities Notice of Funding Opportunity (2025 HERO NOFO): Please be advised that the following update has been made to the ” 2025 Human Exploration Research Opportunities (HERO) NOFO” document. A list of the updates can be found at https://tinyurl.com/HERO25NOFO. This amendment removes the inclusion plan pilot program from the 2025 HERO NOFO and is reflected in all sections across the document. Specific details can be found in the amendment document at the link above. This email is being sent on behalf of HRP and is intended as an information announcement to the research community related to the NASA Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD). Thank you for your continued interest in NASA. Please refer to the solicitation document for contact information.”

Keith’s note: Looks like Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro has totally bought into this. Her words. Update: In all fairness this is the OPM memo that Team Trump sent to all agencies with a template wording for memos, etc. That said, Janet Petro agreed to be NASA Acting Administrator so she had to send it out – but she sent it out under her name without explaining that she was told to do so. As such, minus any explanation, it is her words unless she clarifies things. PAO has not provided any information on this memo. So it is what it is.

Keith’s note: This NASA Diversity and Inclusion webpage will soon go dark. According to this Executive Action all government agencies are directed to “Terminate all “diversity,” “equity,” “equitable decision-making,” “equitable deployment of financial and technical assistance,” “advancing equity,” and like mandates, requirements, programs, or activities, as appropriate.” According to this OPM memo: “No later than 5:00 pm EST on Wednesday, January 22, 2025

• a. Send an agency-wide notice to employees informing them of the closure and asking employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language a template agency-wide notice is attached as Appendix 1.
• b. Send a notification to all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.1 A template employee letter is attached as Appendix 2.
• c. Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices.“

Keith’s note: Here is the 9:45 pm EST tiny statement on the whole Acting NASA Administrator confusion thing from NASA PAO. It took them 8+ hours to pick these words – words that simply reflect what the White House posted just after noon today. What possible “additional information” they need to get escapes me.: “The Trump Administration has named Janet Petro the acting administrator of NASA, effective Monday. Petro has served as the center director of the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.” “We’ve received multiple questions today about the incoming administration and agency changes. We appreciate your patience as we work to get additional information to you as soon as possible.”

Keith’s note: according to today’s “Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” Executive Order:

• In recent years, however, there have been numerous and well-documented cases of career Federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership. Principles of good administration, therefore, necessitate action to restore accountability to the career civil service, beginning with positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.
• Sec. 2. Reinstatement of Prior Administration Policy. Executive Order 13957 of October 21, 2020 (Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service), is hereby immediately reinstated with full force and effect, subject to the amendments described in section 3 of this order; provided that the date of this order shall be treated as the date of Executive Order 13957.
• (b) Employees in or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration. They are required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the vesting of executive authority solely in the President. Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”

Keith’s note: according to today’s “Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives” Executive Order:

• “The President’s power to remove subordinates is a core part of the Executive power vested by Article II of the Constitution and is necessary for the President to perform his duty to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.” Because SES officials wield significant governmental authority, they must serve at the pleasure of the President.

• Only that chain of responsibility ensures that SES officials are properly accountable to the President and the American people. If career SES officials fail to faithfully fulfill their duties to advance the needs, policies, and goals of the United States, the President must be able to rectify the situation and ensure that the entire Executive Branch faithfully executes the law. For instance, SES officials who engage in unauthorized disclosure of Executive Branch deliberations, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, refuse to implement policy priorities, or perform their duties inefficiently or negligently should be held accountable.”

Keith’s note: according to today’s “Reforming The Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service” Executive Order: “Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of “equity,” or one’s commitment to the invented concept of “gender identity” over sex. Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates. … This Federal Hiring Plan shall:

• (i) prioritize recruitment of individuals committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution;
• (ii) prevent the hiring of individuals based on their race, sex, or religion, and prevent the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve the Executive Branch;
• (iii) implement, to the greatest extent possible, technical and alternative assessments as required by the Chance to Compete Act of 2024;
• (iv) decrease government-wide time-to-hire to under 80 days;

Keith’s note: According to the White House KSC Center Director Janet Petro is the acting NASA Administrator – not Jim Free – who would traditionally be named as the acting Administrator pending confirmation of the president’s nominee. But wait according to NASA Jim Free is acting Administrator. Update: Based on lots of sources all over NASA and within the DC/Trump space bubble – no one knew about the appointment of Janet Petro as Acting NASA Administrator – and not Jim Free – including Petro/Free – until people started to call and email and text each other. I sent a request to NASA PAO hours ago asking for clarification. No response. But let’s dial up the speed at which NASA does the whole Mars thing.

Keith’s note: From the inaugural address: “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars.”

Keith’s note: Some people are feeling rather big right now. Others feel rather small. Let’s recalibrate. Wherever you are on the political spectrum just put all of that aside for a moment. We can all rise above this nonsense if we want to. America’s spacecraft have touched the sun and travel across interstellar space. Our reach has always exceeded our grasp. May it always be so. Ad Astra

Keith’s note: Dear Trump Transition Team (whoever you are): America always has been ‘Great in Space’. No “again” is needed. Just sayin’ Ad Astra y’all.

Keith’s note: I was just on Bloomberg TV for live coverage of the SpaceX Starship 7 flight. [Audio] They recovered the first stage perfectly but they lost comms near the end of the Starship burn. This was an upgraded version of Starship. So they’ll just try again to get it right.

Keith’s note: According to Blue Origin: “New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during today’s NG-1 mission, accomplishing our primary objective. New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines ignited on January 16, 2025, at 2:03 a.m. EST (0703 UTC) from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well.We lost the booster during descent.”

Keith’s note: the impact of the fires in California with regard to the JPL community is now becoming abundantly clear.

• Eaton Fire Leaves California Landscape Charred, NASA: “On the afternoon of January 11, 2025, NASA’s AVIRIS-3 (Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-3) flew aboard a B200 aircraft over Los Angeles County, where it captured images of several areas affected by wildland fires.”
• Southern California Wildfires Impact Caltech Community, Caltech: “More than 250 individuals and families across campus and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have lost their homes to the fires, while more than 1,800 remain temporarily displaced due to evacuation orders; lack of working power, gas, and/or safe water; and other circumstances. … The Caltech and JPL Disaster Relief Fund, which was launched Friday, January 10, has already received more than $2 million in commitments from more than 2,000 donors.”
• Over 200 NASA JPL, Caltech employees lose homes from Los Angeles wildfires, Fox Weather: “Los Angeles wildfires are devastating all industries in Southern California, including NASA and Caltech faculty and staff – the hard-working minds behind key space exploration research and technology.”

Keith’s note: FYI here’s a list of the “Plum Book” positions – Biden Administration political appointees at NASA. A few of them are rather well off. Let’s see who remains in their positions and who gets reassigned – or fired. And stay tuned for Schedule F!

Keith’s note: In order to make sure that no one outside of the DC space bubble knows what is going on with the Federal government and space commerce, this conference will not be recorded or webcast by FAA, or NASA, or the Commercial Spaceflight Federation – or anyone. Meanwhile Blue Origin and SpaceX are launching massive commercially-developed launch vehicles. Go figure.

Keith’s note: According to NASA “Carrying science and tech on Firefly Aerospace’s first CLPS or Commercial Lunar Payload Services flight for NASA, Blue Ghost Mission 1 launched at 1:11 a.m. EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The company is targeting a lunar landing on Sunday, March 2.”

Keith’s note: According to “Trump team is questioning civil servants at National Security Council about commitment to his agenda” on AP: “Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by President-elect Donald Trump’s team, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter.”