Trump Pulled His NASA Pick, But Jared Isaacman Would’ve Rebuilt the Moon Program

Shortly after Donald Trump withdrew his appointment to Jared Isaamman to lead NASA, the billionaire private astronaut revealed what he would have changed to the agency if he had received the role of administrator. The most notable change would have been the Artemis program of NASA, which has difficulty costing cost and an available and super costly rocket.

During interview With the Podcast All-in on Wednesday, Isaacman spoke of his appointment for the role of the NASA administrator and where his priorities would have lied to the agency. “Let us complete our lunar obligations, because it is a completely different story with China,” said Isaacman. “At the same time, in parallel, developing capacities to go to Mars.” If Isaacman had taken the bar at NASA, however, he would have focused on the reusable equipment to reach the moon.

The NASA Artemis program has been criticized for its use of the agency’s spatial launch system (SLS), a super-author consumable rocket designed to launch the Orion capsule to the Moon. The 5.75 million pound rocket was built using components of the NASA space shuttle program, which took place from 1981 to 2011.

“It is a giant disposable rocket program that reuses shuttle equipment,” said Isaacman during the interview. “It’s expensive, it’s disposable. It is not the way to make an affordable, repeatable and effective exploration, whether it is for [the] Moon, March or elsewhere.

So far, NASA has paid billions to SLS before admit that it is ultimately unaffordable. SLS already has made $ 6 billion on the budgetThe expected cost of each SLS rocket being $ 144 million more than expected. This would increase the overall cost of a single launch of Artemis to at least $ 4.2 billion, according to a report Released in May by the office of the Inspector General of NASA.

Instead of counting on SLS, Isaacman suggests focusing on reusable launch vehicles for Artemis 3. “There is now enough equipment to pilot a few missions and ensure you beat China on the moon,” said Isaacman. “But you cannot be stuck on this subject forever. It is literally the equivalence, moreover, to take Mustangs P-51 [a fighter aircraft] Of the Second World War and using them in Desert Storm because we were able to keep the plants open. And that obviously has no logical sense. »»

He then criticized other aspects of the NASA Artemis program. “We have scored many international partners to support it because we like to collect flags, and that does not necessarily mean that what they contribute is in the best interest of the program,” said Isaacman. “It descends into a rabbit hole of many things due to the shortcomings of the vehicle.”

This week, President Trump withdrew his appointment from Isaacman to direct NASA. This decision was disappointing for the space community, which largely considered the potential role of Isaacman as a welcome change for the agency because it fights against budgetary constraints and bureaucratic administrative formalities.

Trump’s decision coincided with the founder of SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk Suppose the start of the governmentThis suggests that Isaamman was the reason for the sudden change of the president. “I’m not going to play stupid about it – I don’t think timing was a great coincidence,” said Isaacman. “Obviously, there was more than one departure that was covered that day. There were people who had ax to grind, and I was a good visible target.”

With Isaacman Party, the future of NASA is filled with uncertainty, in particular with regard to its Artemis program. The budget proposed by the administration for NASA suggests eliminating its SLS rocket and the Orion capsule, and replacing them with commercial alternatives. The emphasis is put on the return of astronauts to the moon, but no clear way on how to do it.