Keith’s note: Michael Altenhofen – who joined NASA from SpaceX in January 2025 as a “special “Senior Advisor to the NASA Administrator” has been named as Deputy Chief of Staff according to his LinkedIn page. If he was a ‘Special Government Employee (SGE)’ then his 130 days will be up very soon.

Keith’s note: The President only found out about this “prior associations” issue (whatever that is) with regard to Jared Isaacman months after his nomination, a lengthy confirmation process, with a Senate vote on the calendar for this week. Just sayin’

Keith’s note: Jared Isaacman just tweeted this: “I am incredibly grateful to President Trump the Senate and all those who supported me throughout this journey. The past six months have been enlightening and, honestly, a bit thrilling. I have gained a much deeper appreciation for the complexities of government and the weight our political leaders carry.

Keith’s note: My sources and various news outlets are reporting White House spokesmouth confirmation that Jared Isaacman is not going to head NASA. The nomination of Jared Isaacman was inspired. His un-nomination is beyond stupid. He is – or would have been – a bright light at NASA at a time when that is really needed – a true believer in the agency, its people, and its potential. Ad Astra Jared.

Keith’s note: that feeling you get when you grew up watching Star Trek – thinking that NASA was the key to that future – and then seeing today’s FY 2026 NASA budget request from the White House and realizing that you’ve been robbed.

Keith’s note: as I predicted several days ago …. Janet Petro’s latest Embrace the Challenge update: “Today, NASA published a technical supplement to the President’s Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request released May 2. The supplement includes the Congressional Justifications for our programs and mission areas, as well as my letter to Congress highlighting key points of the budget request. We are currently assessing the priorities and impacts to our teams and programs, and I have asked our leadership team to move forward with discussing their specific areas with you soon. Please take time to review the additional information on the budget documents online at: https://www.nasa.gov/budget. Looking ahead, there’s growing expectation the Senate will take up the nomination of Jared Isaacman to serve as NASA’s next administrator in the near future. While the timing of a vote hasn’t been officially announced, there is a strong sense of momentum. A confirmation would mark a new chapter in leadership at NASA – one rooted in innovation, vision, and a clear passion for exploration. I know many of you are looking forward to what lies ahead. Embrace the Challenge”

Keith’s note: Soon-to-be-NASA-Administrator Jared Isaacman just posted this on Twitter in response to some comments. “My position on the subject is simply that of a somewhat informed, lifelong space enthusiast cheering on NASA and industry. I remain nothing more than that until the Senate decides if I am fit for a new job or not. That said, the answers I submitted to the Commerce Committee’s questions for the record remain my position. For those curious, I would recommend reading the answers carefully, as many draw conclusions based on what they think they know about me vs. what I have put in writing. [More below]

Keith’s 28 May Update: I just did an interview with Al Jazeera about the SpaceX Starship 9 flight Audio. Keith’s 27 May note: I just did live coverage of the SpaceX Starship Flight 9 mission on Bloomberg Radio. After two last minute holds the rocket lifted off re-using a first stage that had already flown – 29 engines were being re-flown – and one of them was being flown for its third flight. After staging the first stage was brought back – but under heightened stress loads to test the vehicle. Just as the landing burn was going to happen telemetry stopped and SpaceX confirmed that “Heavy just demised” in SpaceX lingo. The Ship (second stage) made its way into space and tested some engines. The plan was to deploy 8 Starlink demonstrators but the payload door would not open properly so that task was aborted. Upon re-entry the vehicle lost control and spun and was eventually lost.

Keith’s note: I am hearing that here will be a OMB-issued FY 2026 budget coming out at 3:30 pm EDT on Friday followed by a NASA budget briefing around 5:30 PM EDT. Audio only. Invitation only. They are doing this on a Friday which has the added benefit of missing lots of news deadlines etc. Thus dampening the release of bad news – because you know that is what this is going to be.

Keith’s note: Looks like @NASA has a new Chief of Staff: Brian Hughes from Jacksonville, FL. LinkedIn profile – @BrianHughes47 and @BrianHughes

Keith’s note: On 25 May @ScienceMagazine tweeted a link to an article in Science Robotics magazine about a NASA Europa mission concept. So did @SciRobotics. The tweets referred to an article in the 21 May edition of Science Robotics: “Autonomous surface sampling for the Europa Lander mission concept“ written by 21 authors – all of whom work for NASA JPL, or related institutions. Cool stuff – yes? They have been testing it in Alaska. But the article is behind a paywall. I was able to find pieces of the article elsewhere – including a video – but without a subscription to Science Robotics I have to pay extra to read this article – an article written by NASA-funded people about a NASA-funded mission concept. I searched for “Europa lander” at NASA .gov and was sent to https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-lander/ which is a dead link and this page from 2017. NASA is supposed to be making these materials available to all taxpayers. But they don’t. Then the NASA folks moan and groan about missions being cut – and see that polls reflect public apathy toward NASA – when they simply do not have the initiative to highlight all of their cool stuff in the first place. NASA has easy access to immense social media, web, and TV audiences but PAO has no clue how to make the best use of this reach. Just sayin’. See: “Europa Astrobiology Lander Mission Concept: Autonomous Surface Sampling” at Astrobiology.com

Keith’s note: according to “What government programs should be slashed? NASA nears top of list, poll finds“ in the Miami Herald: “In the latest Marquette Law School Poll, 63% of respondents said they would be willing to reduce spending on NASA and its space program to shrink the federal budget deficit. Meanwhile, just 37% said they would not be willing to cut it. And just 5% said sending astronauts to Mars or back to the moon is a major priority, while 39% said this is important, but not a top concern. A majority, 56%, said it should not be a priority at all.” (deep sigh) NASA has touched the sun, visited every planet in our solar system, has spaceships traversing interstellar space, and has telescopes that look back toward the dawn of the universe – yet NASA Public Affairs and other communications and outreach efforts at the agency consistently fail to convey these awesome, exciting accomplishments to the public. Only NASA could make America’s unparalleled accomplishments in space exploration so boring that such a large portion of the public wants to cut space funding. Ad Astra y’all.