How will a government shutdown effect our nation’s space agency? Virtually all operations other than those that prevent people from dying will cease and 97 percent of the workforce will be furloughed.
Fewer than 600 of NASA’s 18,000 or so employees would likely keep working through a shutdown, with the aim of ensuring the safety of human life and the protection of property, according to a plan the space agency submitted today (Sept. 27) to the Office of Management and Budget.
The International Space Station (ISS) and its six crewmembers would not be hung out to dry.
“To protect the life of the crew as well as the assets themselves, we would continue to support planned operations of the ISS during any funding hiatus,” the NASA plan states.
It must be very comforting to crew members on the International Space Station to know that the actions of House Republicans won’t result in their death. At least not yet.
How small and petty the machinations of Congress must appear to be from Earth orbit.