As the government shutdown continues, thousands of NASA employees have been furloughed. But thousands more are continuing to work—without pay—on projects considered “presidential priorities” by President Donald Trump.
Among them is the Artemis moon mission program, according to a memo sent by Steve Shinn, NASA’s acting chief financial officer, to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Monday. Despite proposing the largest single-year funding cut in NASA’s history, the Trump administration has requested additional funding for Artemis and other human exploration missions. Trump himself has not been shy about his ambitions to send astronauts to Mars.
