NASA rushed engineers out of their labs. They say it risks future space missions
NASA engineers report that frequent, forced relocations of staff and equipment at the Goddard Space Flight Center have hindered critical work on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Scientists claim the loss of specialized workspaces and high-precision equipment has compromised the quality and safety of future space missions.
Why it matters
Operational disruptions at a premier research facility raise concerns about the long-term viability and success of multi-billion dollar scientific endeavors.
When NASA launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida late last month, engineers were anxious.
Expectations were high. The telescope is supposed to collect more information than any other has before about how the universe is expanding and how many previously hidden planets might be in the galaxy. Fifteen years of preparation and $4 billion had led to this moment.
But with spacecraft, the smallest of mistakes can derail everything. And at NASA's premier space flight complex, the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., engineers knew that teams working on the telescope had been operating under tenuous conditions. NASA's management had forced scientists to quickly move out of their labs at Goddard multiple times since last November — and as recently as a month before Roman's launch, engineers said.
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