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: according to Senate Executive Calendar 23 May 2025: “Ordered, That at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, June 2, 2025, notwithstanding Rule XXII, the cloture motions with respect to the following nominations ripen: Jared Isaacman, of Pennsylvania, to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (May 22, 2025.)” I am sure that Jared Isaacman will enjoy being ripe.

Keith’s note: Janet Petro just sent out “Fiscal Year 2026 Discretionary Budget Request” – “On Friday, the Trump-Vance Administration released topline details of its fiscal year 2026 budget request, which outlines a focused approach for advancing America’s leadership in space. While this is just the starting point, it’s clear NASA’s role in shaping the future of space exploration remains central to the American story.

This week marked 100 days in President Trump’s Administration – 100 days of pressing forward on bold goals while continuing our tradition of exploring, innovating, and inspiring for the benefit of all. When we take a step back, the progress we’ve made together is clear.

Keith’s note: Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA Administrator was just reported favorably out of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (full committee) by a vote of 19 – 9 . There was no discussion. It is now up to the full Senate to vote on this confirmation. Given curent standoff between Democrats and Republicans with regard to nominees this may take some time to happen. Democrats are not allowing unanimous consent, so confirming people now requires quorum calls and roll call votes which can slow down the process.

Keith’s note: a full committee executive session of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will convene a full committee Executive Session on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 10:00 am EDT to consider nominations and legislation – including that of Jared Isaacman. The agency will stream the hearing on NASA+, and the committee will stream it on its website. Oh yes – NASA PAO wants you to know that lots of people support Isaacman (see below).

This week brought steady progress across the agency, as teams tackled key milestones in flight testing, propulsion, Artemis prep, and more. It’s a snapshot of how your work continues to push the mission forward, every single day. Here’s some happenings from around the agency:

On Wednesday morning, Jared Isaacman, President Trump’s nominee to serve as the next NASA Administrator, participated in his confirmation hearing. It was energizing to hear the views on our mission and priorities. The next step in the process is a committee vote to advance the nomination to the full Senate, though a date for that vote has not yet been scheduled. I’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn more.

Keith’s note: the following are the realtime social media quotes I posted on @NASAWatch regarding the salient points of today’s confirmation hearing for Jared Isaacman. And yes, he said that reads NASAWatch. (sigh) I’m never going to retire, am I?

Keith’s note: According to Opening Remarks by Jared Isaacman in advance of his confirmation hearing:

“On that note, NASA is the most accomplished and respected space agency in the world—but for all of NASA’s historic achievements, the agency is not without challenges:

• Presidents have called for a return to the Moon and a path to Mars since 1989 and well over a hundred billion has been spent without the intended results.
• Most programs—new telescopes, rovers, X-planes, or entire spaceships—are over budget and behind schedule.
• This is discouraging because people look up at the stars and wonder what is out there today, not decades down the road.”

Full statement below

Keith’s note: according to NASA: “Jared Isaacman is set to participate in a hearing to become the next NASA administrator at 10 am EDT on Wednesday, April 9, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The agency will stream the hearing on NASA+, and the committee will stream it on its website and YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content on a variety of agency platforms, including social media.”

Keith’s note: According to House Democrats probe Elon Musk’s conflicts of interest with NASA, Axios: “Rep Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) and Rep. Gery Connolly (D-Va.) sent a letter to Iris Lan, NASA’s chief legal officer, requesting information and documents by April 21. They asked how NASA is ensuring that Musk isn’t exploiting the agency to enrich himself and his companies, which they said would violate ethics rules for his position as a special government employee. … “Mr. Isaacson’s fortune is tied to Shift4, the payments processing company he controls. In 2021, Shift4 entered into a partnership with Starlink, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mr. Musk’s SpaceX. Shift4 estimated that its partnership with SpaceX will generate $100 billion in Starlink subscription payments.” Full letter text below.

Keith’s note: Amidst the ever present fear of being fired (without any real details), having budgets cut and missions cancelled, Janet Petro wants your ideas on how to improve NASA. And you only have one week to submit them. And just like the “Five Things What I Did Last Week” thing, memo there are 5 questions. FYI when I go to https://forms.office.com/g/opuPtHnrRg I get a 404 – that may be because I am outside the firewall. But based on input from inside NASA the link does work. Embrace the challenge y’all. Janet’s memo – and the questionnaire form located online inside the firewall below:

Keith’s note: according to “Senate Commerce Announces Hearing for NASA, FCC Nominees“: “U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, will convene a nominations hearing for Jared Isaacman, nominee to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration … at 10:00 AM EST on Wednesday, April 9, 2025.”

Keith’s note: According to this 2021 ENR article, Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro was firmly in the diversity-is-good camp back in the day. KSC Director Janet Petro Reflects on Diversity: “Petro: KSC has embraced the link between diverse teams and innovation. We reinforce this message with our entire workforce by including it as one of our DEIA Crucial Topics: “NASA sees DEIA as a mission imperative. Our commonalities unite us as a team, and the universe of our differences gives us the perspectives and insights that mitigate group think and confirmation bias.”

Keith’s note: there has been a swarm of stories of late about NASA abandoning the whole “first woman and first person of color” tag line that the Biden Administration used with regard to Artemis lunar missions – which evolved further to “NASA will land the first woman, first person of color, and first international partner astronaut on the Moon”. That tagline evolved out of the Trump 1.0 Administration’s original “first woman” preface as to who’d be landing on the Moon. Now that’s all gone as part of the DEI purge and shunning of international partners that has been inflicted upon all of the Federal Government by Trump 2.0.

Keith’s note: WRT Janet Petro’s update today – she included a comment about her standard update closing “Embrace the Challenge”. IMHO when the entire NASA workforce is uncertain about whether they will even have a job, if their projects will be cancelled, or NASA’s future as the world’s leader in space exploration, “Embrace the Challenge” tends to fall a little short and sound a dull thud as to what NASA’s extended family really needs to hear right now. I went through the RIF-like effort at Space Station Freedom Level II. I know exactly what people are going through. So Janet, maybe you should use that new 5 Question App to ask people how they are doing as this chaos grinds them down – and what you can do to help them through. Just asking them may be enough – better than a hollow slogan. Just sayin’.

Keith’s note: the following was sent to NASA Employees today: “This week, Crew-9 returned safely to Earth, with Butch, Suni, Nick, and Aleksandr splashing down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida late Tuesday afternoon. I want to commend our teams for their outstanding work in ensuring a smooth return and for executing a seamless handover with Crew-10 aboard the International Space Station this weekend. Our crews and all of us on the ground really embraced the challenge from President Trump of an updated, and somewhat unique, mission plan to bring our crew home early – navigating it with professionalism, skill, and dedication. It was a spectacular liftoff for Anne, Nicole, Takuya, and Kirill, and a very clean countdown leading to their arrival at the space station on Saturday. I’m looking forward to the vital science investigations and technology demonstrations they’ll conduct during their stay.

Keith’s note: I am getting imagery and less than pleasant comments like this from people at NASA questioning the way that Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro closed her note today announcing the agencywide RIF at NASA i.e. “embrace the challenge”.