Status of Term Extensions & Pathways Conversions

GESTA has confirmed via communications with Goddard’s Labor Relations Officer and via the information shared with the center workforce in the recent town hall that the Agency has given each NASA center the authority to convert Pathways interns to term positions and to extend Term employees' terms for up to two years. This current authority is despite the current government “hiring freeze”.  

However, Goddard management has made the decision that Term employees' terms that are up for renewal this fiscal year will be extended no further than September 30th 2025. In the town hall on Monday, June 16th, Dr. Lystrup confirmed that those Term contracts ending this fiscal year will be allowed to expire on their current Not To Exceed (NTE) date and will not be extended.

Since May 2024, Goddard management have also made decisions that Pathways students nearing graduation will not be converted to term positions. In response to a request for information on Pathways student conversion statuses, GESTA received confirmation on May 12th that aside from two Pathways students with graduation dates in December 2024, Goddard has no intention of converting Pathways interns with graduation dates through December 2025. Term extensions and Pathways conversions are happening at other Centers. In the Monday town hall Dr. Lystrup justified the non-extension of Goddard term employees and the non-conversion of Goddard Pathways by stating that Goddard is facing much bigger budget cuts than these other centers.

GESTA wants to emphasize that Pathways and Term employees are fully contributing to current NASA missions. Goddard and NASA have invested in them and they have invested in us. And Pathways and many Term employees are early career employees who represent Goddard’s future. For all these reasons, Center management’s decisions here represent a major breach of trust with these important members of our community. The loss of these employees is already impacting current projects and missions. And it will have longer term impacts to our ability to retain our Center’s strategic capabilities into the future.

Even given these announcements from Center management, we highly encourage Terms and Pathways to reach out to their direct supervisors to get additional information on their specific situations. We have heard recently of some rare cases where Term employees had their terms extended. Term and Pathways employees are also encouraged to reach out to GESTA if they have any questions, and if they may be willing to share their individual stories or additional information they may have.