Isaacman Letter To NASA On FY 2027 Budget

Keith’s note: The following note was sent to NASA employees by Jared Isaacman today: his take home quote: “I encourage the workforce to leave the politics for the politicians and remain focused on the mission.“ Full text below.

“NASA Team Members, Thank you to the NASA workforce, our contractors, and our partners for coming together to support Ignition last week. It was an important step to align on the priorities that matter and the objectives that deliver on the National Space Policy to ensure American leadership in space. Not what stakeholders and industry impose upon us, but what we must do for the American people and for people all over the world. To state the obvious, Ignition was the easy part. The extremely hard part, implementation, is ahead.”

I also want to acknowledge the contributions from across the agency that made it possible to launch Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy on Artemis II. It was a very clean launch, Orion is performing well, and the crew is in excellent spirits. There is still more than a week to go in this mission, and we will save the celebrations until splashdown, but the crewed era of the Artemis program has certainly begun, and America’s return to the lunar surface just got a bit closer.

Today, the President released his budget request for fiscal year 2027. As we saw in last year’s budget request, it calls on agencies to find efficiencies, focus resources, and do more to meet the moment.

As I wrote in my letter for the budget, this request comes at a pivotal moment for America’s civil space program. Rapid technological progress, intensifying global competition, and unprecedented commercial capability are reshaping the strategic environment in space. In response, the President has articulated a clear national objective through the Executive Order on Ensuring American Space Superiority: The United States must lead the world in exploration, innovation, and the peaceful use of space while protecting the economic and security interests of the Nation. NASA’s mission is central to achieving that vision.

I strongly support the President’s fiscal policies and mandate to drive efficiency. The President’s Budget provides Congress and the public with the vision and resources to carry out our mission. The requested funding levels are sufficient for NASA to meet the Nation’s high expectations and deliver on all mission priorities. Achieving this will require disciplined focus on the highest-impact activities and rigorous stewardship of taxpayer resources. I am committed to maximizing every dollar of this budget in conjunction with funding from the Working Families Tax Cut Act to deliver results.

I encourage the workforce to leave the politics for the politicians and remain focused on the mission. Artemis Il and our astronauts on the space station are the highest priority, and there is no shortage of initiatives to progress, including building the Moon Base, launching SR-1 Freedom, igniting the orbital economy, and launching more missions of discovery. Stay focused on achieving the outcomes only NASA can create.

Grateful to serve alongside all of you,

Jared Isaacman