As NASA celebrates the 55th anniversary of the start of its formal operations on October 1, 1958, roughly 97 percent of its workers are out on furlough today. They join thousands of other federal employees facing furloughs, with possible lost pay, due to the U.S. government shutdown resulting from Congress failing to approve a budget for federal agencies.

At the high-profile space agency, mentioned by President Barack Obama in a Monday speech warning of the consequences of the stop in federal activities, the effects have been quickly felt. Websites for most of the agency's centers have become unavailable (except the site for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, apparently), NASA alerts of dangerous asteroids have halted, and