Thoughts on its source(s), from Virginia Postrel.
One of the irritating things about the immigration debate is the conflation of opposition to immigration per se, and opposition to the unrestricted flooding of the country with people who have been completely unvetted, and many of whom are coming not for American opportunity but rather government handouts, and many of whom hate America (e.g., Somalians in Minnesota).
The new version of the Starship booster had an issue on the pad.
Hopefully, they’ll figure it out quickly, and it won’t be too big a setback.
I don’t understand why this wouldn’t be in NASA’s charter. You can say they haven’t been doing a very good job of it, but the response to that should be to fix that, not create another agency.
I remember the Chicago event. It’s interesting that some aircraft get their lives extended forever (e.g., the B-52 and the 737) and others age out.
…and the right to repair.
It’s a complicated issue. I wonder how much this issue is going to bleed over into space hardware?
Good news, from VDH.
Trump has renominated Jared Isaacman.
This is good news if he doesn’t change his mind again.
[Wednesday-morning update]
Thoughts from Eric Berger.
[11-10 update]
A post on X that Jared posted just before the announcement:
It is unfortunate that NASA’s team and the broader space community have to endured distractions like this. There are extraordinary opportunities and some risks ahead and so the focus should be on the mission. With many reporters and other interested parties reaching out, I want… https://t.co/IyPVmHUAzo
— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) November 4, 2025
He’s going to push as hard for reform as is politically possible.
[November 17th update]
Jim Meigs has a good description of the state of play, including quotes from Yours Truly.
[Bumped]
What could it look like?
We now have two American launch companies that are recovering boosters (well, three, if we count Rocketlab).
[Update a while later]
Thoughts from Bob Zimmerman.
Your AI is garbage.
Not surprising.