NASA Employees on SpaceX Artemis Missions to Continue Work Through Shutdown

Despite the ongoing government shutdown, NASA is prioritizing its Artemis program, requiring personnel working with contractors SpaceX and Blue Origin to continue their duties, CNBC has learned. This directive underscores the strategic importance of the Artemis missions in the agency’s long-term goals, even amidst budgetary constraints.

According to an email sent to staff on Wednesday by NASA Chief Human Capital Officer Kelly Elliott, these “essential” Artemis personnel are expected to record their time, with the promise of back pay upon the government’s reopening. This situation highlights the agency’s reliance on specific technical expertise residing within both its own workforce and those of its private partners.

A separate memo from Monday, authored by NASA’s acting finance chief, Steve Shinn, detailed the specific operations that would receive continued support during the funding lapse. This memo prioritizes programs deemed critical to ongoing missions and national interests.

Shinn’s memo specified that NASA will maintain “planned operations” of the International Space Station and all satellite missions currently “in the operations phase.” Crucially, he emphasized that “Artemis operations” would be supported throughout any funding gap, encompassing both NASA employees and contractor personnel engaged in these projects.

While NASA will furlough approximately 15,000 employees, about 3,000 essential staffers will be required to continue working, either part-time or full-time, during the shutdown period. This selective approach demonstrates the agency’s focus on maintaining key projects with high strategic value.

The U.S. government shutdown, which began early Wednesday, has triggered the furlough of hundreds of thousands of federal workers and the suspension of numerous government programs. However, certain “essential” personnel, such as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers and air traffic controllers, are mandated to continue their duties.

NASA’s Artemis program, as described on its website, aims to “send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.” The internal memos circulating this week did not explicitly identify the contractors engaged in specific Artemis missions. However, sources confirm the involvement of SpaceX and Blue Origin.

SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, has secured significant Artemis contracts with its Starship rocket, a fully reusable launch system that represents a paradigm shift in space transport. SpaceX has so far conducted a number of integrated test flights of the Starship, it has another planned.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has also been awarded an Artemis contract. Work on its lunar lander is slated to continue during the shutdown, according to NASA employees familiar with the project. The Blue Origin lander will utilize a different technological approach than SpaceX’s Starship, offering NASA redundancy and potentially different capabilities for lunar surface operations.

Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, marks the first direct involvement of SpaceX in a crewed lunar landing. The mission aims to land two NASA astronauts in the Moon’s south polar region, a location believed to harbor water ice that could be used to for life support and fuel production.

Earlier Artemis missions involved NASA collaborating with traditional aerospace giants like Lockheed Martin and Boeing to design, build, and procure rockets. Artemis II, targeted for early 2026, seeks to send four astronauts around the Moon without landing, setting the stage for subsequent landing missions.

The later Artemis missions such as Artemis IV are anticipated to employ SpaceX’s Starship to transport astronauts to a lunar space station. Artemis V is expected to involve Blue Origin contributing to broader mission objectives.

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are still refining their lunar lander designs and have so far only constructed test hardware, emphasizing the ongoing development efforts needed to realize the ambitious Artemis goals.

As of press time, representatives from NASA, SpaceX, and Blue Origin could not be immediately reached for comment. An automated email response from NASA indicated that the agency “is closed due to a lapse in government funding,” and specifically cited furlough status as preventing a timely response.