NASA Astronaut Recruitment Faces Trump’s Moves Against D.E.I.

The government space agency has vocally promoted diversity and inclusion for decades, even during the first Trump administration.

Since 1978, every new group of NASA astronauts has included women and usually reflected a multiplicity of races and ethnicities.

That is not simply by chance. NASA’s process for selecting its astronauts is not entirely gender- and race-blind. With so many outstanding applicants, choosing a diversified, highly qualified group of candidates has been achievable, said Duane Ross, who worked as manager of NASA’s astronaut selection office from 1976 until he retired in 2014.

“You didn’t lose sight of wanting your astronaut corps to be reflective of society,” he said.

Over most of its history, NASA has risen above partisan bickering, with broad support in Congress from Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals. But the makeup of its most visible employees — its astronauts — could now collide with President Trump’s crusade against programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion — or D.E.I.

For NASA to consider race and gender at all in the choosing of astronauts appears to run counter to an executive order that Mr. Trump signed on Jan. 22. That order declares that hiring for federal jobs will “not under any circumstances consider D.E.I.-related factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements.”

On the same day, echoing language in a template used by agency heads across the federal government, Janet Petro, the current acting administrator, told NASA employees that D.E.I. programs “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”