Critical operations at NASA, NOAA and EPA continue during shutdown
NASA employees are following a familiar plan in the latest government shutdown.
Posted — UpdatedAccording to an agency-wide email sent last week to NASA employees by acting administrator Robert Lightfoot, employees are to arrive at work as they normally would on Monday where more than 95 percent will receive guidance on how to best close out their activities. Those providing a “minimum level of security, safety, and reliability [for] the preservation of Government assets” will be exempted.
International Space Station ground controllers and other personnel supporting the vehicle at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Texas and supporting science operations from the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Alabama will be expected to continue working. About 5.7 percent and 2.5 percent of employees at JSC and MSFC, respectively, are expected to remain at their consoles to “protect the life of the crew as well as the assets themselves.”
Other “tracking, operation, and support of operating satellites necessary for safety and protection of life and property” are also exempted. Similarly, the 30 of the nearly 2,000 employees of the National Science Foundation will stay behind to support researchers in the Arctic and Antarctic.
Of the 11,400 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which includes the National Weather Service, about 46 percent are considered necessary to protect life and property. NOAA services, such as weather forecasting, are necessary not just to figure out what jacket to wear this weekend but are critical to aviation, agriculture and fisheries.
The revised plan calls out public access to NASA centers and facilities. All tours and public education events will be canceled. Though it remains available as of Saturday, the NASA Television channel and website is to be shut down according to the plan.
NASA’s educational support is also affected. NASA educators will suspend support activities for teachers and cancel school visits nationwide. If the shutdown continues, next week’s Astronomy Days at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences could be impacted, too. The shutdown plan prevents NASA's Langley Office of Education from participating as planned. Volunteers in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Ambassador program may not participate either.
Not all government agencies are sticking to their plans
According to the shutdown contingency plan submitted by the Centers for Disease Control, about 61 percent of employees would be furloughed, including those involved in the flu tracking program, but officials said late Friday night that the program would continue.
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