Haven’t read yet, but here‘s Eric Berger’s take.
Mine?
He has to be confirmed. He shouldn’t have dodged the question about whether Elon was present, though. It needlessly made him look evasive, and he’s not going to get Markey’s vote regardless of how he answered the question. He clearly separated himself from Elon on both the Moon and ISS.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s his opening statement:
The NASA Administrator we desperately need. ☑️🚀 https://t.co/bL1zf4J2DH
— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) April 9, 2025
[Evening update]
Thoughts on LinkedIn from Courtney Stadd:
” I am beyond happy that I stayed in DC and attended today’s Senate confirmation hearing for NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman. He turned in a stellar performance.
“The trick is for a nominee to walk away without being trapped into on-the-record commitments that unduly box in one’s ability to do the job as directed by the President. Based on that metric, mission accomplished.
“I have worked for three Administrators and known all Administrators since Tom Paine. Dan Goldin is far and above my favorite change agent Administrator.
“I truly think Jared brings the entrepreneurial mindset, leadership skills and organizational ability to get the agency focused on the LEO, Moon and Mars vision he outlined and endorsed by Committee Chairman Ted Cruz.
“Once Jared is confirmed (end of April/sometime in May?), and he finds himself behind the desk on the 9th floor at HQ, the stark, sobering reality of making hard trades in a very constrained budget will lead to grey hair and more creases in his forehead than he can imagine.
“But IF armed with an effective Deputy and leadership in the core directorates and Field Centers and If OMB, the White House and the appropriators (the major contractor lobbyists will be out in force protecting their rice bowls) give him the latitude to make some hard reprogramming choices, Jared has a real chance to work with best in class entrepreneurs (by the way, there are some terrific intrapreneurs in the major contractors) and our Allies in securing American leadership in earth orbit, a sustaining US presence on the Moon, while laying the groundwork for sending an American led expedition to Mars.
“Yes, achieving all this is profoundly easier said than done. But Jared is right when he reminds us that NASA has done the impossible before and something about the man tells me that he is the right person at the right time to leave the armchair naysayers in the rear view mirror and turns his aspirational words into reality.
“All of us in the space community owe Jared (who does not need the job but is clearly motivated by great respect for the agency – while knowing it needs overdue reform – and patriotism) our full-hearted support.
“Below is Jared, his kids and yours truly. I love that he has young kids to remind him of the importance of building a space program for the next generation.”
Malarkey is consistently on the wrong side of every issue for decades. I would be disappointed if he voted for Issacman.
The Congressional Cramer-Krugman-AOC
When “Malarkey” (aka Markey) was merely a member of the House, a friend who was on the far left worked for his office and everyone there knew that Markey was dumb as a rock, as my friend soon discovered for himself.
If Kamala had won maybe she’d have nominated Biden and NASA could’ve wheeled him around like Captain Pike.
Beep Beep
He keeps blinking “no”, but no to what?
Probably a good idea to remember that Isaacman and his buddies ran Draken International flight school, and he’s accustomed to doing business with the military, and with DoD. I don’t know how many hours he has in supersonic jets. And two spaceflights, including a spacewalk of sorts puts him a big step above the politicians joyriding on the Shuttle.
As far as various programs go, there are good reasons to finish Gateway, but maybe repurpose it as a bit. It’s got its own propulsion and is refuelable. It doesn’t have to stay parked in NRHO. I’d like to see a moon base, along with some big, crewed rovers doing long range treks. And I certainly think a Mars colony is possible with the coming technology. With enough mass and space, ECLSS becomes trivial. Off the shelf mining equipment will work on Mars. Submarine equipment works in zero gee. The Russian segment has stuff I recognize from my shipyard days.
Eric seems pretty bitter about the whole thing.
The guy has a nice life and plenty of money. Why screw it up by going into politics?
NASA needs disbanding, not a new administrator.
People ask the same question about Musk and Trump. I think Trump went into it for a lark, and the way it went gave him a thirst for vengeance. Musk went into it because he finally understood the Democrats weren’t going to let him pursue his Mars dream. Isaacman may simply feel obligated to help try to straighten things out. Most of us can’t do a damned thing about the commie takeover of the US; these guys can.
The media has been asking Trump about it since the 80s, and he’s always said “I don’t want to because someone better will probably stand up.” And then Zero had to taunt him, so I’d like to thank Zero for that.
Musk I can understand. He started to take notice of politics and got red pilled about the outright corruption and venality of the Demonrats.
He isn’t actually in politics, he’s an advisor.
Trump – he has kids and grandkids and could see the disasters looming for his country. A super patriot. America is lucky it produces men like Trump and Musk.
I think Isaacman is merely going to waste his time running an organisation that is a waste of time and money.
Don’t kid yourself. As soon as Musk backed Trump he was in politics, and th Democrats will never forgive him. I agree Isaacman is wasting his time with NASA, but I also think the organization isn’t going way short of a new big failure. Although if the Artemis II crew dies, that might do it.