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Government Shutdown Could Be Big Setback for NASA and Taxpayers, Former Astronaut Says

The government shutdown could delay NASA’s goals and cost taxpayers money, according to one former astronaut.

Although a skeleton crew will support the astronauts on the International Space Station from the ground, important science and spaceflight missions that need funding and attention are threatened by the ongoing government shutdown, said Tom Jones, a veteran of four spaceflights.

“We’re losing time,” Jones told SPACE.com. “It’s not going to endanger operations on the space station, but if it continues for more than a couple of weeks then you’re going to have a significant amount of lost time, productivity and planning for the next stage of space station research, for example.”

About 97 percent of NASA employees have been sent home as a result of the shutdown, which took effect at midnight EDT on Tuesday (Oct. 1) when the Senate and House of Representatives failed to agree on an emergency spending bill.

Fewer than 600 of NASA’s 18,000 employees are able to work while the shutdown continues, according to the space agency’s government shutdown plan. The remaining few are safeguarding the health of space station astronauts and maintaining scientific spacecraft that are currently operating throughout the solar system.

However, work has ceased on most projects that have yet to leave the ground, to the frustration of Jones and many other exploration advocates.

“We have all of these vehicles in development like Orion and the Space Launch System [rocket], so that’s going to cost taxpayers big bucks to lose the momentum [and] to pick up the pieces from a stalled program where decisions should be being made every day,” Jones said.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., remains open for now, because it’s run by the California Institute of Technology. But JPL will be reassessing the situation each week to see how long the famous facility can keep going during the shutdown, officials said.

(via scinerds)