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The information below is based on GESTA’s understanding of recent events as of this date. Since management has put very little information in writing, some of this information also comes directly from employees who have been personally involved in the building closures or who have received verbal information from management. We acknowledge the disruption or loss of these facilities represent decades of our colleagues’ work and may carry deep personal and institutional impacts. The brevity of these updates is not meant to reflect the depth of the impacts. We are also aware indirectly of impacts to multiple laboratories and buildings not mentioned here. If you have a (non-controlled) status update or information you would like to provide GESTA regarding the closures or moves of a building or lab for a future bulletin, please feel free to send it to our tipline email or share it via our Survey on this topic.
GESTA and our international union IFPTE have been collecting impacts and concerns about the ongoing building closures at the Goddard campus. We are sharing here a briefing document of our understanding of the status of these closures as of November 14th and our continuing concerns, including more details of some of the missions and capabilities impacted:
GESTA IFPTE Goddard Building Closure Brief NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is the largest group of scientists, technicians and engineers in the US who develop Earth and space science flight missions. Below is GESTA's understanding of the situation at Goddard as of November 1, 2025. GESTA members and Goddard employees deserve better treatment from their employer.
We have heard reports of Goddard-campus civil servants being directed to come onsite during the shutdown to complete building move activities, including moves of both offices and laboratories. We have significant concerns that such activities during a government shutdown may be illegal under the Antideficiency Act, which defines what activities may continue during a lapse in appropriations (see also the NASA shutdown Continuity of Operations Plan). Violating the Antideficiency Act carries potential penalties of suspension without pay, removal from office, fines of up to $5000, or up to two years in prison.
Any work that happens during a shutdown also has to be approved, first at the Center management level and then at the NASA HQ-level by a Shutdown Executive Committee (SEC) led by the Agency Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Stephen Shinn. If you receive instructions that you believe may violate the Antideficiency Act, we recommend that you do the following (note that you can do these in any order, or at the same time). GESTA members prepared a memo, which was sent to Center Management on September 4th, titled “Justification for Maintaining the On-Site Health Unit and Fitness Center”. It quotes NASA and Goddard Procedural Requirements (NPRs and GPRs) that require the existence of an on-site health unit. Utilizing employee input from GESTA’s Facilities Closures Bargaining Brainstorm, the memo also lists services currently provided by the health unit beyond those required by the NPRs and GPRs. The full memo is available here.
GESTA received official notification from management that they plan to close the Greenbelt campus cafeterias, vending services, motor pool services, recreation center, and the Goddard visitor center on October 1st; the health unit sometime in October; and the gym on November 30th. GESTA has informed management of our intent to bargain on these closures. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to our Bargaining Brainstorm event on August 14th! During the event we were able to collect attendee’s concerns and suggestions for management and GESTA regarding the proposed closure of each facility.
GESTA has released a statement on the intended closure of the Goddard Visitor Center on October 1st:
GESTA Calls for Immediate Intervention to Halt Closure of the NASA Goddard Visitor Center |
GESTA IFPTE
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