First, some news summaries: Looks like the U.S. Congress, mostly the fault of the House, will not by Friday provide stopgap funding for some of our Federal agencies, thus partially shutting down certain departments. Big deal?  Not particularly, as this  has happened 10 times since 1981 . Also, the offices affected are not so crucial.  The important ones need funding by March 8.  But even then, "essential" employees, including the president and the Congress, will continue to work and be paid under any circumstance. The longest shutdown was during Trump's reign, when functions stopped for more than a month. Chances are that something will happen next week to again, temporarily, re-open our government. By the time you read this,  moon lander Odysseus might not be working,  a few days earlier than planned.   Not a great mission, for the lander tipped over on landing, preventing full use of the solar panels. Watch a video  of what happened. Sent a few great photos. About that

But first,  Odysseus , with difficulty, but safely, landed 186 miles from the South Pole of the Moon.  The first American touchdown in more than 50 years, and by a private company from Houston, Intuitive Machines, with  $118 million of NASA money .  While Odie is vertical ( 14 feet tall ), and sent one signal back to Earth, it was weak.  However, the company later did say that data was streaming in.  The intrigue is that this region might well hold frozen water, which can be split into oxygen and hydrogen, serving as a space station for a future Mars project, or mined for Helium-3. Another U.S. firm, Astrobotic Technology, gave a shot last week, but the lander crashed back to Earth.  NASA is trying to kick-start a lunar economy, this being a $200 million gift to the company.  Well, not quite what was intended, but one spinoff so far is that the gold fabric protecting parts of Odie from extreme cold being marketed as  Omni-Heat Infinity  by Columbia Sportswear for winter wear. Previousl