The first female director the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland is set to resign Aug. 1, a move that comes on the heels of another high-profile departure and as the agency is the target of significant cuts by the Trump administration.

NASA has not said why Director Makenzie Lystrup abruptly announced her departure on Monday. Lystrup did not immediately respond to a request for comment and NASA declined to make her available.

The agency has been experiencing an “unprecedented level of change and confusion” since January, said Joe Renaud, an assistant research scientist who works at NASA through a cooperative agreement with the University of Maryland, College Park.

He was surprised that Lystrup stepped down, in part because she came to Goddard in 2023.

“This feels like an earlier than anticipated departure,” he said.

Goddard is home to space operations for the Hubble Telescope and a major research lab for NASA. It is also a hub for the development and operation of uncrewed spacecraft.

Rep. Glenn Ivey, a Democrat whose district includes Goddard, said Lystrup’s departure is a loss for Maryland and the nation’s scientific leadership.

“Under her watch, Goddard continued to push the boundaries of Earth science, astrophysics, and space exploration,” said Ivey. “Her departure reflects a troubling trend: America is hemorrhaging scientific talent at a time when we can least afford it.”

“These conditions undermine our ability to support NASA’s mission and, more broadly, the U.S.’s stance as a scientific and engineering leader,” he said.

NASA supports around 33,800 jobs in Maryland, according to the agency, with an economic output of more than $8 billion and state tax revenue of more than $367 million.

Lystrup’s resignation comes around the same time as about 300 current and former NASA employees, including six astronauts, signed an open letter called the Voyager Declaration, objecting to President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts at the agency.

The letter was addressed to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who Trump named interim NASA administrator earlier this month.

About 130 of them signed the letter publicly, however the majority of the signatories remained anonymous out of fear of retaliation, according to the letter.

NASA has cut missions and contracts, and delayed or suspended grants ahead of any official budget adjustments, said Renaud, who signed the Voyager Declaration. Science missions, in particular, are big targets.

The letter noted that the proposed budget cuts “have or threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission.”

“It’s really hard to watch from the outside,” said Sarah Hörst, an associate professor of planetary sciences at Johns Hopkins University. “I can’t imagine how awful it feels from the inside, and I’m really proud of them for trying to use their voices to share that with the world.”

Trump’s proposed budget would decrease NASA’s funding in every category except human space exploration.

Lystrup is at least the second person in a leadership role at NASA to step down since Trump was sworn in. Laurie Leshin stepped down as director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in June. She was also the first woman to hold that position.

As director, Lystrup has led Goddard’s workforce of 8,000 civil servants and contractors and has been in charge of managing other NASA field installations nationwide.

“We’re grateful to Makenzie for her leadership at NASA Goddard for more than two years, including her work to inspire a Golden Age of explorers, scientists, and engineers,” said Vanessa Wyche, acting NASA associate administrator, in a news release.

She will be succeeded by Cynthia Simmons, Goddard’s current deputy center director.

Simmons has worked for NASA since 2010 in various leadership and management positions and has contributed engineering support to various launches and missions.

NASA did not make Simmons available for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.