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Mission Control would continue to operate 24/7 with a critical needs staff.

However, there would be no more astronauts tweets, because they can’t actually tweet on their own – someone on the ground needs to push it out for them. They would assess various missions and see how far along they are in development - first up is the GOLD launch - which measures what happens when space weather from above meets terrestrial weather from below - but its launching from French Guiana so that helps. NASA space station management will be talking about two spacewalks coming up at the end of the month - to do critical work to maintain the space station Canadian robotic arm. The spacewalks would proceed but NASA won’t be televising them so if you don’t get a direct NASA wired feed you won’t know anything (we get those feeds here at out office at Johnson Space Center).

What happens to National Parks?

In a break from previous shutdowns, the administration has said that national parks will be accessible if the government shuts down this weekend, perhaps in an attempt to avoid the striking images of veterans being turned away from war memorials that we saw during previous shutdowns. Roads, trails, and memorials will be open but parks will not collect entrance fees and will not be staffed for basic work like picking up trash, staffing visitors centers, or issuing permits. Campgrounds will be closed.

According to the National Park Service contingency plan only 3,300 employees are deemed essential out of almost 25,000, 650 of which are Park Police. If the Park thinks areas of the park are not safe without guides the area can be closed but they cannot bring on additional staff to enforce the closure. Individual parks will have their own plans to determine what areas will be open.

What happens to the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo?

In the event of a federal government shutdown Friday night, the Smithsonian museums and its National Zoo will remain open for the weekend. The museums and the National Zoo will be closed beginning Monday, Jan. 22. The Smithsonian also has two museums in New York City that will be closed – the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum and Heye Center, a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian.

?? There’s no otter way we’d rather spend our #snowday! ?? pic.twitter.com/Pf77cg7M6M

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) January 17, 2018

The National Zoo live-animal cameras, including the panda cam, will not be broadcasting. All the animals will continue to be fed and cared for at the National Zoo. A shutdown will not affect the Zoo’s commitment to the safety of staff and the standard excellence in animal care.

ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman, Jeff Cook, Jack Date, Erin Dooley, Stephanie Ebbs, Conor Finnegan, Luis Martinez, Elizabeth McLaughlin, Gina Sunseri, Audrey Taylor, Trish Turner and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this story.

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