On October 2, 2025, the U.S. federal government began a shutdown in the early hours of Wednesday, October 1. However, NASA will continue to carry out the “Artemis” manned lunar mission. Because this mission is classified as a national “key mission”, it has received special approval.
NASA’s Chief Human Resources Officer Kelly Elliott stated in an email sent to employees on Wednesday that staff involved in the mission will ensure its smooth progress with limited resources, while non-essential work will be paused until the government resumes operations. During the shutdown, the salaries for these tasks will be paused, but employees are required to record their hours, and the government will compensate them once operations resume.
NASA’s Acting Chief Financial Officer Steve Shinn stated that during the government shutdown, NASA will continue to support the operation of the International Space Station and ongoing satellite missions, as well as continue with the “Artemis program”. The agency has requested contractors – SpaceX and Blue Origin – involved in this mission to continue working during the government shutdown.
According to the NASA website, the “Artemis program” is designed to explore the moon, promote science and economic development, and prepare for future manned missions to Mars.
The early stages of the “Artemis” mission were primarily carried out in collaboration with NASA, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing, who jointly designed and built the rockets ultimately purchased by NASA. However, with SpaceX led by Elon Musk securing the main contract for the “Artemis program” with the Starship rocket, there has been a shift in this collaborative model.
The “Artemis II mission” is scheduled for early 2026, planning to send four astronauts on a circumlunar flight around the moon without landing before returning to Earth.
The subsequent “Artemis III mission” scheduled for 2027 will be the first mission directly conducted by SpaceX with the aim to land two NASA astronauts in the lunar south pole region.
For the “Artemis IV mission”, NASA will collaborate with SpaceX to send astronauts to the first lunar space station in preparation for future human missions to Mars. The “Artemis V mission” is expected to involve Blue Origin.
Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have yet to complete the design of their lunar landers, having only developed test hardware so far.
Since April 2023, SpaceX has completed 10 test flights, with the next one planned for October 13. In the past test flights of the Starship rocket, there have been four successful, one partial failure, and five failures.
Shinn mentioned that NASA will place 15,000 employees on unpaid leave during the government shutdown and requires about 3,000 employees to continue working either partially or full-time.
(Reference: CNBC)