NASA pushing to keep Artemis II on schedule despite shutdown

A noticeable percentage of NASA is shut down now, not updating many (if not all) websites. Staple sites I visit regularly like APOD, the blogs.NASA.gov site, the Voyager project site, and so many more aren't being updated because of the Schumer Shutdown. 

The problem is the preparations for Artemis II, currently set for No Earlier Than Feb. 5, 2026 at 8:09 PM are going into the bad position of depending on people who are going to be going unpaid, which has to add an increased dose of stress.

If you look at any of the thousands of sites that touch on politics more than I do, it's probably not news to you that the upper tier of the Democratic party is doing this strictly to appeal to their voters because they're terrified of any cuts to government. This meme, for an easy to find example, (sixth one down) has direct quotes from some big name demmies. They view anything that blocks the administration from accomplishing anything they want is A Good Thing.

If my 30+ years of close friendships with contractors on the Cape mean anything, the people who are working on this mission, are going to be a mix of union members and non-members. More to the point, some of them are far more dedicated to the missions they're working on than to the job or the union or the company that has its name on their paychecks. That means they're more likely to view going through some time of hardship as part of the job.

The shutdown started after many expenditures for October had already been paid, but as of Midnight Friday night when the clock advances to November that probably comes to a halt. 

Federal civil servants and NASA contractors are not getting paid during the shutdown, even if agency leaders have deemed their tasks essential and directed them to continue working. Jobs classified as essential include employees operating and safeguarding the International Space Station and NASA’s fleet of robotic probes exploring the Solar System and beyond.

Many employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida remain at work, too. Their job is to keep the Artemis II mission on schedule for launch as soon as next February. In the four weeks since the start of the government shutdown, crews at Kennedy Space Center have completed several major milestones on the road to Artemis II, including the stacking of the Orion spacecraft atop its Space Launch System rocket inside the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building. This milestone, completed about one week ago, capped off assembly of the SLS rocket for Artemis II.

“All work on Artemis II is excepted to protect both the property and to protect against risks to the crew introduced by unplanned close out and restart,” a NASA official told Ars. “All of our contracts are funded into early November.

“The Office of Procurement has sent letters to contractors doing excepted work (including all the Artemis II contractors) indicating that work is authorized during the lapse in funding,” the official said. “Most workers have indicated a willingness to continue the work in the event of contract funding running out prior to the government reopening.”

It's safe to say that there are months worth of work to be completed and it's not at all unreasonable to ask if it could be completed on time if the issue with paying workers wasn't a concern. It's important to note that this issue isn't unique to the KSC and Artemis II. Artemis II work is being done at subcontractors in Texas, Alabama, Florida and probably others I haven't thought (or heard) of. Plus other shutdowns due to the Federal budget shutdown can affect the mission's readiness. Simple things, like airline or private airplane flights being delayed by air traffic controllers being off.

NASA, overall, is a mixed bag. ISS ground support, for example, is unaffected.

NASA must keep the space station operating in order to protect the lives of the people living and working onboard. NASA has also exempted its other operating spacecraft, such as satellites and robotic deep space explorers, from past government shutdowns to protect the billions of dollars that taxpayers have committed to those missions.

Artemis II is in a different category. While the current launch date is the priority, it was moved up to this date earlier this year. The mission can launch on a handful of days each month when the positions of the Earth and the Moon are right for the Orion spacecraft to complete its circumlunar voyage as designed.