John “Danny” Olivas, a former NASA astronaut from El Paso and a veteran mission safety specialist, was among the advisory panel members quietly shown the door from NASA’s advisory ranks this spring, a shakeup that has unsettled former agency leaders and some members of Congress. The timing lands right as NASA tweaks its Artemis roadmap and retools the outside brain trust that helps steer big decisions.
Advisers told their roles were ending
As reported by El Paso Matters, NASA sent polite but final "thank you" letters in March to members of the NASA Advisory Council and to its subcommittee members, informing them that their service was ending. Documents and interviews reviewed by the outlet indicate roughly 14 NAC members were removed, and that Administrator Jared Isaacman signed the letters telling advisers their roles were over. Several advisers told the outlet that the notices landed without any public explanation, just a quiet reset.
Agency points to charter and administrator authority
NASA officials respond that the NAC is a discretionary advisory body and that the administrator is fully in charge of who serves on it. The agency's official charter, filed on Sept. 24, 2025, states that council members "serve at the pleasure of the NASA Administrator" and that the charter is expected to remain in effect for two years, through Sept. 24, 2027, according to NASA. The same document spells out the council’s duties and the administrator’s broad discretion over its subcommittees and membership.
Safety watchdogs had already raised red flags
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel had already dialed up the pressure on NASA's big exploration plans. In its 2025 annual review, the panel warned that "the Artemis III mission, as baselined, cannot be accomplished with appropriate margins of safety," a conclusion detailed in coverage summarized by SpaceQ. That kind of warning has made independent technical advice of the sort the NAC provides even more critical as NASA shuffles schedules and mission designs for its return to the moon.
Former leaders and lawmakers push back
Former agency leaders and several members of Congress told El Paso Matters that pushing out seasoned advisers risks weakening independent expertise just when it is most needed. Pamela Melroy said the administration appears to want advisory groups packed with people aligned with its goals, while Charles Bolden suggested the changes fit into a broader pattern. Former Senator Bill Nelson warned that dialing down the NAC's role would be a "grave mistake." Rep. Zoe Lofgren went even further, calling the removals "inexcusable and potentially dangerous," according to the outlet’s reporting.
Olivas’s role and local ties
Danny Olivas joined NASA in 1998, flew on two space shuttle missions (STS-117 and STS-128), and later led mission safety work and a research center at the University of Texas at El Paso, according to his public biography. Over the years, Olivas has taken part in technical reviews focused on crew safety that have been central to recent Artemis planning and oversight discussions. Wikipedia provides a concise rundown of his career that underpins this background.
What comes next
The current charter leaves council membership largely to the administrator’s judgment, and officials say who will sit on the NAC going forward is still under discussion, even as the charter runs through September 2027. Local leaders in El Paso, along with national safety advocates, say they are watching for congressional hearings, briefings, or some clearer roadmap for how an independent technical review will be protected while NASA pushes an accelerated lunar agenda. For now, former advisers say the wave of removals has left uncomfortable questions about how truly independent safety and technical counsel will survive inside the new structure.
