Senate Confirms Billionaire Entrepreneur Jared Isaacman As New NASA Chief (politico.com)
- Reference: 0180413239
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/17/2240200/senate-confirms-billionaire-entrepreneur-jared-isaacman-as-new-nasa-chief
- Source link: https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/12/17/congress/jared-isaacman-nasa-head-00695557
> The Senate on Wednesday [2]approved Jared Isaacman for the top job at NASA -- an unprecedented comeback after President Donald Trump [3]yanked his nomination this spring. Senators confirmed the billionaire private astronaut in a 67-30 vote. Trump renominated Isaacman for NASA administrator in November, after pulling his original nomination in May. He cited Isaacman's relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, with whom Trump had just had a falling out, as the rationale for his decision. Isaacman's surprise rebound followed months of political jockeying and help from high-profile figures in Trump's orbit. [...] Isaacman garnered backing from lawmakers during his hearing by confirming his support for NASA's Artemis moon-landing mission, a key prerogative for Capitol Hill. He also committed to instilling urgency at the space agency, citing China's space ambitions.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1
[2] https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/12/17/congress/jared-isaacman-nasa-head-00695557
[3] https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/01/0722227/americas-next-nasa-administrator-will-not-be-former-spacex-astronaut-jared-isaacman
Hurry! Because..China? (Score:3)
> ..confirming his support for NASA's Artemis moon-landing mission, a key prerogative for Capitol Hill. He also committed to instilling urgency at the space agency, citing China's space ambitions.
Uh, just curious. What is the urgency prioritizing the moon-landing?
Urgency, will likely translate into urgently requesting a 20x increase in the budget by next year, because We need it now! China! Hurry! Get to Da Moon Base Choppa All Belongs to Us! Aaaauungh!
It's a pretty big moon. Lotsa space. Serious question; between China and the US, does it truly matter who gets (back) there first? Absolutely critical turf?
Re:Hurry! Because..China? (Score:5, Informative)
It's a pretty big moon, but you likely want to go after the poles (especially the lunar south pole), because that's where the water is. Not only can you make beer out of it, but you can also turn it into rocket fuel.
So you get there first, put down a manned base with a big ol' fence around it, and claim it's yours.
And then it's just wash-rinse-repeat. You get into another arms race, the military-industrial complex will need to be fed, and the billionaire circlejerk keeps going.
Re: (Score:2)
The US can't let China have a moment.
What's important is what you do when you get there. The US raced to the moon the first time then just quit. China, at least as far as they've announced, seems to be planning to go and actually do some stuff like set up a long term research base. The US was also planning to do some interesting long term stuff but has cancelled most of that in the interest of beating China.
Re: (Score:2)
> The US can't let China have a moment.
No, its letting them having all the easily accessible water. Everyone planning on a long term presence needs to plant a base near some ice.
So what happened with Boeing (Score:1)
When Boeing hired a business guy instead of someone with a technical background that went great yeah?
Re: (Score:1)
I mean the suits got rich and that pesky 737 Max lawsuit was dismissed. That's all that matters.
Re: (Score:2)
> I mean the suits got rich and that pesky 737 Max lawsuit was dismissed. That's all that matters.
And we really wonder how Luigi Mangione ended up with fans and admirers..
Qualified (Score:3, Insightful)
He clearly wanted the job. He's a space enthusiast. Even if he has to work within a restrictive political framework he's going to bring science and motivation to getting mankind into space in a big way. Now if we can get congress to stop pork barreling NASA so hard maybe they can get more done.
Re: (Score:2)
> He clearly wanted the job. He's a space enthusiast. Even if he has to work within a restrictive political framework he's going to bring science and motivation to getting mankind into space in a big way.
Are you talking about Von Braun or Isaacman?
Re: (Score:2)
Nice comparison, but I think Von Braun knew he was making missiles for killing people. Not quite so virtuous as the mission of NASA.
Re: (Score:2)
If he's concerned with pork barrelling and working with Congress and also getting more funding he's absolutely working with the wrong party and admin. Maybe the Trump admin is more in space funding favor of it but they are also bad at all of the above and won't be able to corral Congress, negotiate with Democrats and make effective legislation (all things Biden was able to do) and also not graft on top of it.
From what I've read I think he has good intentions but the deal he had to cut to get what he wanted
Calm down (Score:2)
When Isaacman was originally nominated, the whole space community was like, "oh, that's an interesting pick." Yes, he's a rich guy and pays for private missions via SpaceX, but his credentials are pretty solid, and he really is a believer in the ideals of space exploration. He also sees the value in public/private partnerships. Nobody thinks NASA is doing anything close to what SpaceX is accomplishing. Trump reportedly yanked the original nomination because someone told him that Isaacman had some histor
The checks cleared (Score:5, Informative)
Between May 31 and Nov. 4, Isaacman made two $1 million donations to MAGA Inc., a political action committee supporting Trump, as well as more than $175,000 in contributions to the Republican National Committee.
[1]https://spacenews.com/senate-c... [spacenews.com]
[1] https://spacenews.com/senate-confirms-isaacman-as-nasa-administrator/
Re:The checks cleared (Score:4, Insightful)
MAGa's are screwing up 60+ years of good work in Science and Technology in order to just screw around like little children and collect money. It is surreal to me.
Re: The checks cleared (Score:2, Troll)
So strange to see you worrying about "children", but embrace a dumb AR and thoroughly corrupt member of a real pedophile ring as your leader.
Re: (Score:2)
LGBT has nothing to do with nothing in this context. Facts are one thing, and culture wars are another thing.
Also play politics (Score:2)
Right wing politics do not result good economic outcomes. It's basically trickle down economics combined with corruption.
So they have to give their voters something. Some reason to keep voting for them even as the economy collapses.
Anti-science and anti-vaxx are the solutions they came up with. You might not have a job or a home but nobody's going to tell you how to raise your kids and nobody's going to make you get the fauci ouchie.
The NASA Admin's job is that of a salesman ... (Score:2)
> MAGa's are screwing up 60+ years of good work in Science and Technology ...
Nope. The NASA Admin's job is that of a salesman. To sell NASA and its agenda and its budget to the President, to Congress, and to the American people.
> ... It is surreal to me.
It's more likely selective memory. A NASA admin being a political appointee and selected primarily on the political metric is hardly anything new. Even if a former engineer.