Much of NASA is Eligible to Retire in Five Years

Nearly 40 percent of the 18,146 people at NASA are age 50 or older, according to Florida Today, leaving the agency “ill prepared for a bold future in space exploration.” Another 22 percent of NASA’s workers are age 55 or older, and employees over 60 outnumber those under 30 by a ratio of about 3 to 1.

In the 1960s–during the moon-landing work–going to work at NASA had the lure of a job in Silicon Valley. Now, private-sector jobs are seen as offering better wages, and interest in federal service is declining.