There are times when the government fails to meet a deadline for bills, bringing about a shutdown until it gets resolved. Recently this very event occurred early-October of this year after the two dominant parties within the States could not manage to pass a funding bill in time. This caused many government agencies to receive lapses in funding, which was the fate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had received.

NASA is the United States’ official agency for the nation’s extraterrestrial tasks, such as the observation of celestial objects near and far from Earth. It brought the first man onto the moon in 1969 and still operates today on missions to other bodies in the Solar System. It is a staple in the country’s history and serves as a reminder of the United States’ presence during the Cold War. NASA also contributes to education through social media, such as its related channels on YouTube, related accounts Facebook and its own subreddit on Reddit. The agency receives regular government funding on a yearly basis, though it seems that this funding has been cut off just before the last quarter of 2025.

The government’s inability to pass the funding bill halted the funding of national agencies, NASA included. On the official NASA website, a banner notification is visible on the top of all sites and related subdomains, stating clearly that “Due to the lapse in federal government funding, NASA is not updating [its websites].” Alongside the abandoning of its website, NASA cut off many of its operations and has laid off nearly half of its workers. These cuts of government support are further affected by the Trump Administration’s manual lowering of NASA funding, leaving NASA with the bare minimum to do its work.

As of October 29th, the shutdown remains in place. The democratic party hasn’t made a decision to pass the bill, thus extending this period of shutdown.