NASA has mandated that personnel involved in Artemis missions with contractors SpaceX and Blue Origin remain on the job throughout the government shutdown, CNBC has reported.
Although their work will not be compensated during the furlough caused by the shutdown, employees are instructed to log their hours, according to an email from NASA Chief Human Capital Officer Kelly Elliott sent to staff on Wednesday. NASA staff is anticipated to receive their pay after the government reopens.
In a different memo from Monday, NASA’s acting finance chief, Steve Shinn, provided specifics regarding the missions that will proceed during the shutdown.
NASA will persist in supporting “planned operations” of the International Space Station and any satellite mission that “is in the operations phase,” Shinn mentioned. He further indicated that NASA would uphold “Artemis operations during any funding lapse,” covering employees and contractors assigned to those endeavors.
Shinn noted that NASA would place approximately 15,000 personnel on furlough while requiring about 3,000 employees to continue working, whether part-time or full-time, during the shutdown.
The U.S. government’s shutdown commenced early Wednesday morning, paving the way for the furlough of numerous federal employees and the suspension of several essential programs and services. Federal workers designated as “essential,” including Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers and air traffic controllers, are obliged to keep working.
On its website, NASA outlines Artemis as a mission to “send astronauts to investigate the Moon for scientific discovery, economic advantages, and lay the groundwork for the initial crewed missions to Mars.” The memos from this week did not specify the contractors linked to the various Artemis missions.
SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, secured significant Artemis contracts using its Starship rocket, the tallest and most powerful rocket ever deployed. SpaceX has successfully completed 10 test flights of its complete Starship rocket system since April 2023 and intends to conduct another on Oct. 13. Its previous Starship test flights included five failures, a partial failure, and four successes.
Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has also received an Artemis contract, and work on its lunar lander will persist during the shutdown, NASA employees informed CNBC.
Artemis III, planned for 2027, will be the first to directly engage SpaceX. This mission aims to land two NASA astronauts in the south polar area of the Moon.
Initial Artemis missions saw NASA collaborating with Lockheed Martin and Boeing to design, construct, analyze, and procure rockets that the agency would fully own. With Artemis II, set for early 2026, NASA intends to send four astronauts around the Moon without landing before their return to Earth.
The objective of Artemis IV+ HLS, in collaboration with SpaceX, is to position astronauts at the first lunar space station, aiding NASA and its partners in preparing for a future human mission to Mars. Artemis V is projected to include Blue Origin.
Neither SpaceX nor Blue Origin has completed the design of their lunar landers so far, and they have only manufactured test hardware.
Officials from NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin did not immediately reply to a request for comment. An automated response from NASA indicated that the agency “is closed due to a lapse in government funding.”
“I am on furlough status; thus, I am unable to respond to your message at this moment,” stated the message from Cheryl Warner, the news chief in NASA’s communications office.
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