If the #Apollo8 mission had happened during a #GovernmentShutdown there would not have been any Christmas Eve broadcast from the Moon by @NASA#UltimaThule #UltimaFlyby pic.twitter.com/vUnEzR05wd
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) December 27, 2018
Update. Now the @NASA home page points to https://t.co/OzINGBtqnc – it used to point to https://t.co/VoKf8YqIRc As such, it would seem that @NASANewHorizons #UltimaThule events will be on NASATV after all. Good news! #Governmentshutdown pic.twitter.com/E7kGVGh5I6
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) December 28, 2018
I seriously doubt that would have been the case. The broadcasts were in the flight plan and they sure as heck weren’t going to cancel the mission in the middle of it.
BTW: NASA TV was still showing programming this afternoon and if they don’t cover the flyby the New Horizons website will be.
You totally missed the point, didn’t you?
Apparently so.
That’s not quite the point. By current rules, a planned broadcast from Apollo 8 would have been cancelled if it was not necessary for flight safety. Communications with Apollo 8 would have been exempt, obviously. A PR television event, on the other hand, would not have been a flight safety requirement nor (arguably) mission critical. NASA could have successfully flown Apollo 8 without saying one word to the public or having given the media one image. Under the current rules for a government shutdown, that’s what they would have been required to do.