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
[Saturday-morning update]
Thoughts from Jim Meigs, who quotes Yours Truly based on a DM exchange on X:
“Republican senator Jerry Moran of Kansas asked whether Isaacman was fully committed to this plan. ‘This is the current plan,’ Isaacman replied. ‘I do believe it is the best and fastest way to get there.’ Underscoring his support, Isaacman had invited the four Artemis II astronauts to attend the hearing with him.”
Note the tense. He says he currently believes that. He didn’t say “I do and always will believe” that. That is, he left space to change his mind given new information (such as that I will provide in the upcoming Reason study), without perjuring himself to the Senate.
It’s hard to believe, and frustrating to realize, on the 64th anniversary of the first man in orbit, that space policy remains such a mess.
[Bumped]
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.
By the criterion of who you back in politics lots of other people are in politics, George Soros, Taylor Swift etc. I guess I meant a political job. Being a civil service advisor should not qualify as political.