NASA’s workforce is undergoing one of its largest reductions in decades, with nearly 4,000 employees choosing to resign through a deferred departure program backed by the Trump administration.

NASA announced Friday that nearly 4,000 people have taken buyouts since President Donald Trump began shrinking the federal workforce earlier this year.

Almost 4,000 NASA employees have volunteered to leave their positions through two Trump administration separation programs. Officials at Marshall Space Flight Center are unsure how many of those employees work in Huntsville.

About 3,870 employees have applied to depart NASA over two rounds through the Trump administration's deferred resignation program, the agency disclosed.

More than 20% of NASA’s civil workforce has elected to leave the agency since President Trump took office in January, the agency revealed on Friday, July 25. In the latest wave of resignations, thousands accepted deals through the Trump administration’s deferred resignation program.

NASA is bracing for one of the largest staffing reductions in its history, with nearly 4,000 employees preparing to exit under a federal downsizing initiative led by the Trump administration .

A letter of dissent titled "The Voyager Declaration," with hundreds of signatures from current and former NASA employees, said: "Thousands of NASA civil servant employees have already been terminated, resigned, or retired early, taking with them highly specialized, irreplaceable knowledge crucial to carrying out NASA's mission."

NASA plans a 20% workforce reduction as nearly 4,000 employees opt for voluntary resignations under Trump-era efficiency measures.