Initial Responses On Jared Isaacman’s Nomination To lead NASA

Keith’s note: Here are some quotes with regard to the nomination of Jared Isaacman to run NASA. He’s clearly a space fan and has certainly put his money where his interests lie again and again. In so doing he has sought to squeeze the maximum science, engineering, outreach, and charitable causes into both of his flights and has several more in the planning stages. One interest has been in how to extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope. How all of these interests intersect with the Trump 2.0 space vision will be interesting to watch. More below.

Trump nominates Jared Isaacman to become the next NASA administrator, Ars Technica

“Jared Isaacman will be an outstanding NASA Administrator and leader of the NASA family,” said Jim Bridenstine, who led NASA as administrator during Trump’s first term in the White House. “Jared’s vision for pushing boundaries, paired with his proven track record of success in private industry, positions him as an ideal candidate to lead NASA into a bold new era of exploration and discovery. I urge the Senate to swiftly confirm him.”

Lori Garver, NASA’s deputy administrator during the Obama administration, wrote on X that Isaacman’s nomination was “terrific news,” adding that “he has the opportunity to build on NASA’s amazing accomplishments to pave our way to an even brighter future.”

What Trump’s ‘moderate’ NASA pick means for climate science E&E/Politico

Keith’s note: my original quote to Politico was “He understands science because he jampacked as much science as he possibly could into his missions. He understands risk – he’s taken it. He understands what things cost cause he’s paid for it.”

“It’s clear that he’s a big fan of human spaceflight and would go every day if he could. He understands science because he jam-packed as much science as he possibly could into his missions,” said former NASA employee Keith Cowing, who runs the watchdog site NASAWatch.com. “But as far as the other stuff like climate, I don’t know what his stance is on there.”

Isaacman’s stance on climate change is also unlikely to be “the final arbiter of what NASA does,” Cowing said. “That will come from the bigger picture that the Trump administration will put forth, and you know they’ve expressed doubts about climate change being a priority.”

Trump picks billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to head NASA, Washington Post

John Grunsfeld, a former NASA associate administrator for science and an astronaut who flew five times on the space shuttle, including three trips to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, said Isaacson is “definitely an out-of-the-box candidate.”

“He doesn’t have government experience, he doesn’t have previous NASA experience, he doesn’t come from the NASA contractor or the science side,” Grunsfeld said. “But it makes perfect sense when you think of President-elect Trump and Elon Musk.”

Grunsfeld noted that Isaacson has many parallels with Musk. Both made fortunes in financial transaction software before pursuing a passion for space travel. Isaacson is a highly accomplished pilot, which is not irrelevant to NASA, given that the first “A” in the agency’s name is “Aeronautics,” Grunsfeld said.

And he noted that Isaacson not only risked his own fortune to advance commercial spaceflight but risked his own life by going into space.

“One question is,” Grunsfeld said, “how do you go from risk taker to risk manager?”