Above The Earth

Lost in space: Government shutdown hits NASA hard, puts $650 million robot in jeopardy

News_Johnson Space Center_NASA_by Raniero Tazzi

Government shutdown affects thousands of Johnson Space Center employees.

Photo by Raniero Tazzi

While the United States government is shut down, 97 percent of the 18,134 NASA employees are furloughed, making it the United States agency with the highest percentage of employees currently left without work.

With 3,200 NASA personnel working at Johnson Space Center, this represents the most significant way the government shutdown affects the Houston area.

Kelly Humphries, a spokesperson for NASA, says that of the 3,200 civil servants working at Johnson Space Center, only 93 are exempt from the furlough, including those working to maintain operations aboard the International Space Station. Some of these employees, while exempt from the furlough, will not be at Johnson Space Center, but will work from home.

If the shutdown is lengthy, there may not be enough time to make sure that the Mars probe launches on schedule.

Additionally, while most of Houston's NASA civil servants are furloughed during the government shutdown, many will remain on call in case of an emergency.

Due to the government shutdown, even NASA's Internet presence is currently on hold. Everything from NASA's social media accounts to the agency's website are presently shut down. The agency went so far as to say on Twitter that it will no longer be responding to tweets and that all scheduled NASA events are "postponed or canceled until further notice."

One of the most significant problems caused by the NASA furlough is with the MAVEN probe, which is scheduled to be launched between Nov. 18 and Dec. 7 of this year. The probe, a $650 million robotic explorer, is designed to enter Mars' orbit and study the planet's atmosphere. During the shutdown, personnel working on the MAVEN project are considered as "nonessential" and have been furloughed.

If the shutdown is lengthy, there may not be enough time to make sure that the probe launches on schedule. If that is the case, the probe will be stored until the next launch window, which would delay the MAVEN launch until 2016.

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best places to live

7 Houston neighbors make U.S. News list of best places to live in 2026

The City of Sugar Land, Texas – City Government/Facebook

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Several Houston suburbs have been crowned the best places to live in the U.S. for 2026, according to U.S. News & World Report. Sugar Land was the highest-ranked city in the Houston metro, and ranked as the 10th best place to live in the country.

The annual list of Best Places to Live in the U.S. is designed to help readers make the most informed decisions when choosing where to settle down, using data from sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, the Federal Reserve and the Bureau for Economic Analysis, as well as state and local sources.

For the 2026-2027 rankings, U.S. News featured 250 U.S. cities and ranked them across four livability indexes — quality of life, value, desirability, and job market — weighted by importance based on survey results of approximately 500 Americans. The rankings were also broken down state-by-state, as well as the best big, medium, and small cities overall.

Sugar Land is the No. 4 best places to live in Texas, and it soared into the No. 10 spot overall in the nation after ranking 16th last year. Sugar Land also ranked as the fourth-best mid-sized city to live in America for 2026-2027.

According to U.S. News, Sugar Land's median household income is far higher than the national average. Residents make $140,511 per year, while the average American household income is only $83,181.

Additionally, the $431,815 median home value in Sugar Land is also far greater than the $359,870 national average.

After ranking in the top 10 in the 2025 report, League City and Pearland now both rank outside the national top 10 for 2026. League City slipped from No. 6 to No. 13 this year, while Pearland sank from No. 3 nationwide to No. 16.

These three Houston suburbs also boast highly desirable job markets for potential newcomers or current residents that want to start or change their career.

Houston proper, however, remains outside of the top 250 and is the 327th best place to live in the U.S., and it's the 60th best place to live in Texas.

Other cities in the greater Houston area that ranked among the top 100 include:

No. 28 – The Woodlands
No. 38 – Katy
No. 61 – Missouri City
No. 82 – Spring

The Lone Star State had a "strong showing" in the overall top 10 thanks to its "high affordability scores," a release said. Besides Sugar Land, three more popular Texas suburbs made the cut: Leander (No. 8) outside Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs Flower Mound (No. 3) and Frisco (No. 9).

"As prices of everyday goods continue to rise, consumers are considering affordability as a top priority when choosing a place to live," said U.S. News consumer lending analyst Erika Giovanetti. "While U.S. News’ consumer survey indicated that quality of life and affordability were close in importance, cost-of-living concerns resulted in many Americans putting what they can afford above their aspirations."

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