The government is shut down, but work on International Space Station continues
With the federal government shutdown, some services are unavailable, and federal employees are furloughed. That includes 15,000 employees at NASA — though astronauts at the International Space Station are still working.
Those at the ISS are doing work that has been deemed “necessary to prevent harm to
life or property, making them what’s called an “excepted employee” from furloughs per NASA’s shutdown guidelines.
Space.com reports that “for the most part, life aboard the ISS has continued as usual.” Members of the Expedition 73 crew currently onboard the space station are researching microgravity and other experiments, as well as performing scheduled maintenance. NASA employees Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke are at the ISS, along with three from Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos: Sergey Ryzhikov, Alexey Zubritsky and Oleg Platonov and one from Japan, Kimiya Yui.
Last week, all the astronauts were there as Japan’s HTV-X1 cargo spacecraft launched and landed on the ISS, Space.com reported. The NASA astronauts helped their colleagues unload its cargo on Friday.
Work also continues on Artemis, as NASA calls that critical, according to Space.com. The goal is to launch an Artemis 2 mission around the moon as soon as February 2026.
Because of the shutdown, though, the NASA astronauts are not getting paid. They and fellow federal employees working amid the shutdown are expected to get backpay, however.
NASA and the shutdown
For the NASA employees who aren’t exempt from furloughs, life looks different. NASA said on its website that it is “currently CLOSED due to a lapse in government funding.”
Employees received two emails, one on Oct. 29 and the other on the 30th, from the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer, NASA said. The second contained a formal furlough office.
This all means NASA temporarily stopped educational outreach and other research programs not having to do with ISS. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida is still open, though, USA Today reported, as it does not receive taxpayer money. Instead, it gets funds from guest revenue. Delaware North is contracted to operate the center for NASA.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
