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3h ago

NASA Closes Most Operations After Funding Lapse, Keeps Artemis Work Active

The agency's shutdown plan designates its lunar program as exempt on national security grounds.

Technical personnel at Beijing Aerospace Control Center monitor the docking of the Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft with Tiangong space station on April 24.
Artemis I sits at Launch Pad 39-B at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at sunrise, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022, as seen from nearby Canaveral National Seashore. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on its 10th test flight at the company's launchpad in Starbase, Texas, on August 26.
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Overview

  • Roughly 15,000 employees were furloughed after the Oct. 1 government shutdown, and the agency posted a notice declaring it is closed.
  • Safety-of-life and property functions continue, including International Space Station support, active spacecraft oversight, and planetary defense tracking.
  • NASA guidance carves out an exemption for the Artemis program, keeping more than 3,000 staff at work on Artemis II, Artemis III, and related efforts.
  • Research grants and many projects are paused, compounding earlier workforce losses after about 4,000 employees accepted deferred resignations.
  • The White House proposed cutting science by nearly 50% and NASA’s overall budget by about 24%, Congress has rejected those levels, and lawmakers warn OMB could still try to implement the President’s request.