After writing that last section, I took a break, I ate some edamame, and I scanned BlueSky, and I learned the story I now need to write is somehow even more depressing than it was 30 minutes ago. There are a lot of articles out there on the missions that may be cancelled… on how the Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is nearly ready for launch and might just get shelved or worse… but what I’m not seeing are stories on what these cuts will mean to the space science workforce. That’s the story I want to tell. As the story went, the president’s proposed, but not yet submitted, FY 26 budget for...

I am a post-Apollo baby. Throughout my entire career, I’ve listened to the stories from senior researchers about how they watched men walk on the moon and thus became astronomers or planetary scientists. Me… I watched science fiction and decided if I wasn’t going to...