Why It Matters

A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) assessment found that most of NASA's major projects stayed within their cost and schedule targets over the past year, even as the agency cut its civil servant workforce by roughly 22 percent, more than 4,000 positions, and paused several Artemis-related projects in early 2026. The assessment, released Thursday, July 23, arrives as Congress weighs whether NASA can sustain its $70 billion portfolio of major projects amid tightening budgets and organizational turbulence.

The report is GAO's 18th annual review of NASA's major undertakings, covering 36 projects with life-cycle costs exceeding $250 million each, 18 of which are currently in development. The assessment matters because it gives lawmakers a rare, authoritative snapshot of how the agency is managing its most expensive and visible commitments at a moment when the nation's space program faces real questions about priorities and resources.

The Big Picture

The headline finding is positive: most projects in development reported no new schedule delays or cost overruns this year, and the portfolio's cumulative cost growth and schedule slippage increased only modestly. The report detailed a $261 million cost overrun for Orion this year, accounting for roughly half the portfolio's annual overruns and the majority of its cumulative ones, even as the capsule prepares to exit the development portfolio following its April launch.

NASA reduced its civil servant workforce by more than 4,000 positions in 2025, part of a government-wide reduction effort, and 25 of the agency's 36 major projects reported feeling the effects. NASA has since moved to resume hiring after Congress funded the agency at higher levels than the Trump administration's fiscal year 2026 budget request proposed, but the fiscal year 2027 request calls for a further 23 percent cut, leaving the agency's staffing plans uncertain heading into next year.

Meanwhile, NASA announced significant changes to its Artemis campaign in February and March. The agency revised the Artemis III, IV, and V missions. It also paused work on the Gateway lunar space station, the SLS Block 1B rocket configuration, and the Mobile Launcher 2 tower. Officials cited both schedule risk and a shift toward infrastructure supporting sustained lunar-surface operations rather than the paused hardware.

The Bottom Line

GAO's mandate for annual reviews means Congress will keep getting this level of detail on NASA's project health going forward, but the report leaves the harder question open: whether an agency managing a $70 billion portfolio with a smaller workforce and a shifting Artemis plan can hold its performance steady once the fiscal year 2027 budget fight plays out. GAO said it will continue monitoring both the Artemis transition and NASA's workforce recovery.

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