Washington DC - The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is likely to lose about 20% of its workforce via a voluntary resignation program introduced by the Trump administration.

A NASA spokesperson on Friday said the organization expects to lose around 3,870 employees over the coming weeks as part of a voluntary resignation program designed to cut costs.

This would leave NASA with about 14,000 employees – a reduction of about 20% that the organization insists will be made while prioritizing safety.

"Safety remains a top priority for our agency as we balance the need to become a more streamlined and more efficient organization," read a statement from NASA cited by Bloomberg.

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It is expected that about 870 employees will leave through the first deferred resignation program, while another 3,000 will leave via voluntary early retirement or a voluntary separation incentive program.

According to Bloomberg, NASA's former acting administrator Janet Petro told an agency town hall in June: "The reason we are doing this is to minimize any involuntary workforce reductions in the future."

Layoffs at NASA have caused a stir among former and current employees, many of whom are concerned they will cause a brain drain from the administration.

"We bring to your attention recent policies that have or threaten to waste public resources, compromise human safety, weaken national security, and undermine the core NASA mission," thousands of NASA employees wrote in a joint letter to NASA's interim administrator Sean Duffy.

"We urge you not to implement the harmful cuts proposed by this administration, as they are not in the best interest of NASA," they added.