INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
faced difficult questions from US senators who sought commitments to specific projects.However, maneuvering like a pilot with more than
7,000 hours in jets and ex-military aircraft, entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman dodged most of their questions and would not
His basic message to members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation was that NASA is an exceptional agency that
does the impossible, but that it also faces some challenges
Isaacman, who founded his first business at 16 in his parents' basement and would go on to found an online payments company, Shift4, that
would make him a billionaire
Isaacman is also an avid pilot who self-funded and led two private missions to orbit on Crew Dragon
Capitol on Wednesday morning, in an expansive room with marbled columns and three large chandeliers
There was plenty of spaceflight royalty on hand, including the four astronauts who will fly on the Artemis II mission, as well as the six
Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chair of the committee, commenting on the astronauts in the room.Committed to staying at the Moon?However, when the
meeting got down to brass tacks, there were sharp questions for Isaacman.Cruz opened the hearing by stating his priorities for NASA clearly
and explicitly: He is most focused on ensuring the United States does not cede any of its preeminence to China in space, and this starts
Moon, but also to a sustained presence on the surface or in cislunar space.In response, Isaacman said he would see that NASA returns humans
to the Moon as quickly as possible, beating China in the process
over what to do after this
Isaacman, echoing the Trump administration, said the agency should also press onward, sending humans to Mars as soon as possible
Cruz, however, wanted Isaacman to say NASA would establish a sustained presence at the Moon
Isaacman said.
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, left, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut
Jeremy Hansen watch as Jared Isaacman testifies on Wednesday.
Credit:
NASA/Bill Ingalls
NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, left, Victor Glover, Christina
Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen watch as Jared Isaacman testifies on Wednesday.
Isaacman said that seemed reasonable and added that NASA should squeeze every possible bit of research out of it until then
However, when Cruz pressed Isaacman about the Lunar Gateway, a space station NASA is developing to fly in an elliptical orbit around the
Moon, Isaacman would not be drawn in
He replied that he would work with Congress and space agency officials to determine which programs are working and which ones are not.The
Gateway is a program championed by Cruz since it is managed by Johnson Space Center in Texas
and the future of SLSOne of the most tense interactions came between Isaacman and Sen
discussion about making the space agency more efficient by closing some of them
This is a politically sensitive topic, and naturally, politicians from states where those centers are located are protective of them
At the same time, there is a general recognition that it would be more cost-effective for NASA to consolidate its operations as part of
modernization.Isaacman did not answer Cantwell's question about field centers directly
said he wanted to get a crew of Artemis III to the lunar surface as quickly as possible
But he questioned why it has taken NASA so long, and at such great expense, to get its deep space human exploration plans moving.He noted,
correctly, that presidential administrations dating back to 1989 have been releasing plans for sending humans to the Moon or Mars, and that
significantly more than $100 billion has been spent on various projects over nearly four decades
For all of that, Isaacman and his private Polaris Dawn crewmates remain the humans to have flown the farthest from Earth since the Apollo
The smart reading of this is that Isaacman may be willing to fly the Artemis II and Artemis III missions as conceived, given that much of
the hardware is already built
But everything that comes after this, including SLS rocket upgrades and the Lunar Gateway, could be on the chopping block
Ars wrote more about why this is a reasonable path forward last September.Untangling a relationship with SpaceXSome of the most intelligent
questions came from US Sen
During his time allotment, Kim also pressed Isaacman on the question of a sustained presence on the Moon
With this information, he said, NASA will be better positioned to determine whether and why it should have an enduring presence on the
Moon.If this were so, Kim subsequently asked what the economic, scientific, and national security value of sending humans to Mars was
Not responding directly to this question, Isaacman reiterated that NASA should do both Moon and Mars exploration in parallel
NASA will need to become much more efficient to afford that, and some of the US Senators appeared skeptical
But Isaacman seems to truly believe this and wants to take a stab at making NASA more cost-effective and "mission focused."Throughout the
programs and that he was eager to help NASA uphold its reputation for making the impossible possible
He also said it is a "fundamental" obligation of the space agency to inspire the next generation of scientists.A challenging moment came
during questioning from Sen
Isaacman was previously an investor in SpaceX and has paid for two Dragon missions
In a letter written in March, Isaacman explained how he would disentangle his "actual and apparent" conflicts of interest with
SpaceX.However, Markey wanted to know if Isaacman would be pulling levers at NASA for Musk, and for the financial benefit of SpaceX
Markey pressed multiple times on whether Musk was in the room at Mar-A-Lago late last year when Trump offered Isaacman the position of NASA
Isaacman declined to say, reiterating multiple times that his meeting was with Trump, not anyone else
Yes, he acknowledged he would talk to contractors for the space agency
It is important to draw on a broad range of perspectives, Isaacman said
is expected later this month after April 15, and if successful, the nomination would pass to the full Senate
Isaacman could be confirmed late this month or in May.
