DAVID GREENE, HOST: And let's turn now to some federal workers who are considered essential during this partial government shutdown. They're astronauts, up in space, working on the International Space Station. Veteran astronaut Karen Nyberg has been onboard since May.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: First-timer Mike Hopkins arrived at the Space Station last month. Now, NASA itself has not issued any updates on their mission during the partial shutdown. So Nyberg and Hopkins have picked up the slack using Twitter, sending pictures, for example, of South Africa or the Great Lakes.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: Among their tweets was this one from Hopkins: Have you ever watched the clouds go by and let your imagination see different shapes? It works from space, as well.
Two NASA astronauts are on the International Space Station. While the agency is largely shuttered during the government shutdown, Karen Nyberg and Mike Hopkins are using Twitter to update earth-bound fans on what they're doing.