NASA's largest research library shut down: Thousands of books, documents at risk

In an unfavourable move for the so-far undigitised authored books and journals on aeronautics and astronautics, backed by extensive research, the Trump administration has shut down one of NASA’s largest research libraries.

The closure comes amid proposed significant cuts and widespread layoffs at the space agency over the past year.

The termination of the lab is expected to jeopardise “tens of thousands” of books, documents, and journals, many of which have not been digitised or made available in other libraries, The New York Times reported.

A NASA spokesman maintained that the library catalogue will be reviewed over the next 60 days, with some materials set to be destroyed and others relocated to different facilities.

Citing a retired NASA scientist, the Times noted that the library housed rare books, including works by Soviet scientists detailing their early missions during the 1960s and 1970s.

The unfortunate development also comes as NASA’s scientific operations have faced severe budget cuts under the Trump administration.

A report by the spaceflight-focused nonprofit The Planetary Society outlines that 2025 will see the smallest NASA budget since 1961, when adjusted for inflation, calling it “an extinction-level event for the agency’s most productive and widely supported activities.”

Located in NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, the library is part of one of the world’s largest complexes dedicated to spaceflight.

Established in 1959, NASA employs around 10,000 civil servants and contractors, managing many of NASA’s high-profile projects, including the Hubble Space Telescope.

Bethany Stevens, a NASA spokeswoman, told the Times that the move is “a consolidation, not a closure,” claiming these measures were put in place before Trump returned to office.

Slightly contradicting what a spokesperson said, newly appointed NASA chief Jared Isaacman stated that the consolidation was ordered under the Biden administration, assuring that all valuable books and records will be digitised or relocated.