GREENBELT, Md. — NASA engineers and scientists say a cost-cutting campaign at the Goddard Space Flight Center has stripped away specialized laboratories, equipment and staff needed to build and test spacecraft, increasing risks for current and future missions. The concerns surfaced shortly after NASA launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Florida. The $4 billion observatory, developed over 15 years, is designed to study the expansion of the universe and search for previously unseen planets. Engineers involved with the mission said they had to test Roman’s propulsion fuel with less precise equipment after specialized tools were lost during a laboratory move. NASA management moved employees out of more than 80 Goddard facilities beginning last November, including laboratories used by teams working on Roman and other spacecraft. The agency said the effort was intended to reduce waste, eliminate redundant space and avoid tens of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance costs. But seven current and former Goddard employees described disruptions that they said are undermining the center’s ability to perform its work. Current employees requested anonymity because they feared retaliation for speaking publicly. A radio communications laboratory lost nearly all of its equipment and a one-of-a-kind antenna testing facility during a November move, engineers said. The chamber had cost about $6 million. Without it, staff were unable to complete some testing for Roman before launch. A separate team working on DAVINCI, NASA’s planned mission to study Venus, delayed work in August because it no longer had a laboratory or clean room where spacecraft components could be organized and prepared. One engineer said the former lab space was still vacant months after the team was forced out and that no replacement facility had been provided. The disruptions also affected GRITSS, a satellite launched in July to help other spacecraft track changes in Earth’s water levels and landmasses. Engineers said they were unable to test its radio communications with Earth before launch, leaving them uncertain whether the satellite would perform as intended. “We are half-blind in terms of trying to troubleshoot it,” one scientist involved with GRITSS said. The NASA Office of Inspector General reached a different conclusion in a June report, saying the relocations had not harmed ongoing projects and would not affect anticipated missions. The report did acknowledge a heightened risk that property was not properly accounted for during the moves. Records and interviews indicate that equipment from Goddard was auctioned, donated or discarded. More than 300 items were listed on the federal government’s auction site over six months, with an original NASA purchase value of about $5.4 million. One optical test blank bought for more than $250,000 sold for a final bid of $300. About one-third of the auctioned items were classified as subject to restrictions because of potential importance to missile technology, national security, counterterrorism or regional stability. The General Services Administration said buyers of restricted items certified that they were eligible to purchase them and explained how the materials would be used. NASA also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of radio communications equipment to Capitol Technology University. A professor there said the university had not requested the equipment and offered to let NASA scientists borrow it after learning they were looking for the machines. The equipment now belongs to the university and is being installed for student use. The changes at Goddard followed a major workforce reduction. The center lost approximately one-third of its employees in 2025, according to a Government Accountability Office report that found staffing had become misaligned with the agency’s workload. An internal NASA survey reviewed by investigators found that nearly 60% of Goddard engineers said they expected to leave soon. The staffing losses and facility closures are occurring as the White House seeks to reduce NASA’s proposed 2027 budget by $5.6 billion, or 23%, from the agency’s 2026 funding level. Scientists and engineers warn that the loss of experienced personnel and specialized infrastructure cannot be quickly reversed. Jack Kiraly of the Planetary Society said the changes create additional danger for missions that already involve substantial technical and financial risk. Taxpayers, he said, have billions of dollars invested in the people and facilities needed to make those missions succeed. NASA did not respond to questions about the reported effects of the relocations, the auctioned equipment or the university donation. Employees said the consequences extend beyond individual missions: weakening Goddard’s laboratories could leave the agency less able to design, assemble and test the spacecraft it will need in the years ahead.