America's Next NASA Administrator Will Not Be Former SpaceX Astronaut Jared Isaacman (arstechnica.com)
- Reference: 0177889783
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/01/0722227/americas-next-nasa-administrator-will-not-be-former-spacex-astronaut-jared-isaacman
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/05/trump-pulls-isaacman-nomination-for-space-source-nasa-is-fed/
But Saturday the nomination was withdrawn "after a thorough review of prior associations," according to an announcement made on social media. [2] The Guardian reports :
> His removal from consideration caught many in the space industry by surprise. Trump and the White House did not explain what led to the decision... In [Isaacman's] confirmation hearing in April, he sought to balance Nasa's existing moon-aligned space exploration strategy with pressure to shift the agency's focus on Mars, saying the US can plan for travel to both destinations. As a potential leader of Nasa's 18,000 employees, Isaacman faced a daunting task of implementing that decision to prioritize Mars, given that Nasa has spent years and billions of dollars trying to return its astronauts to the moon...
>
> Some scientists saw the nominee change as further destabilizing to Nasa as it faces dramatic budget cuts without a confirmed leader in place to navigate political turbulence between Congress, the White House and the space agency's workforce.
"It was unclear whom the administration might tap to replace Isaacman," the article adds, though "One name being floated is the retired US air force Lt Gen Steven Kwast, an early advocate for the creation of the US Space Force..."
Ars Technica notes that Kwast, a former Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force, has a background that "seems to be [3]far less oriented toward NASA's civil space mission and far more focused on [4]seeing space as a battlefield — decidedly not an arena for cooperation and peaceful exploration."
[1] https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/12/04/2148204/americas-next-nasa-administrator-may-be-former-spacex-astronaut-jared-isaacman
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/01/trump-drops-nasa-nominee-jared-isaacman-scrapping-elon-musks-pick
[3] https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/05/trump-pulls-isaacman-nomination-for-space-source-nasa-is-fed/
[4] https://www.twz.com/31445/recently-retired-usaf-general-makes-eyebrow-raising-claims-about-advanced-space-technology
so la Presdienta should leave the WH? (Score:4, Informative)
The Ultimate Sin: according to the NYT, "Mr. Trump told associates in recent days that he decided to pull back the nomination after learning that Mr. Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur, had donated to prominent Democrats, according to three people with knowledge of the deliberations who were not authorized to discuss them publicly."
Didn't la Presidenta also commit this unforgivable sin? Mars is merely another misdirection from the WH. "See that Blibbering Humdinger in the window?"
Re: (Score:2)
Trump only cares who you support when Trump himself is in the election.
My suspicion though is that's a nice bit of parallel construction, if he was a known Trump-crony and not a Musk-crony there'd be no problem.
Re: (Score:2)
It looks like 2011 is the turning point when Trump stopped donating money to the democrats. [1]https://ballotpedia.org/Histor... [ballotpedia.org]
[1] https://ballotpedia.org/History_of_Donald_Trump's_political_donations,_1989-2015
It Won't Be Me Either! (Score:3)
It won't be me either!
I just thought you should know.
SpaceX Astronaut? (Score:2)
Sounds like SpaceX customer.
Space... the final frontier? (Score:2)
> Ars Technica notes that Kwast, a former Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force, has a background that "seems to be far less oriented toward NASA's civil space mission and far more focused on seeing space as a battlefield — decidedly not an arena for cooperation and peaceful exploration."
Perhaps "final frontier" as in "that's the frontier at which human civilization gets bombed back to the stone age - or worse, ends altogether".
Past Associations? (Score:2)
Given that Trump is willing to employ people who have past associations with white supremacists I wonder who this guy was hanging out with.
Maybe he was hanging out with trans civil rights lawyers or something... How frightening!
Re: (Score:1)
Probably a woke lunatic who believes in a spherical earth and heliocentrism. Doubtless the Administration has a Pentecostal pastor who believes in Creationism and the healing power of CO2 to run the agency.
Re: Past Associations? (Score:2)
It is also possible that a close relationship presents too much of a potential conflict of interest. That could have messed up sending contracts to SpaceX. Whether or not they were valid and fair, it would have given critics a leg to stand on.
Better to have someone who is not so visibly inclined to favor Musk.
Re: (Score:3)
In more normal times I would say this is possible but this admin is a just foundationally constructed of conflicts of interest, it's practically executive policy at this point.