America's Next NASA Administrator May Be Former SpaceX Astronaut Jared Isaacman (arstechnica.com) 83
America's next president "announced Wednesday he has selected Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman and space enthusiast who twice flew to orbit with SpaceX, to become the next NASA administrator," reports Ars Technica:
In a post on X, Isaacman said he was "honored" to receive Trump's nomination. "Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history," Isaacman wrote. "On my last mission to space, my crew and I traveled farther from Earth than anyone in over half a century. I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun...."
"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."
Isaacman, 41, is the founder and CEO of Shift4, a mobile payment processing platform, and co-founded Draken International, which owns a fleet of retired fighter jets to pose as adversaries for military air combat training... Isaacman, an evangelist for the commercial space industry, has criticized some of NASA's decisions on the Artemis program. In several posts on X, he questioned the agency's decision to fund two redundant lunar landers, while not planning for any backup to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which costs $2.2 billion per copy, not including expenses for ground infrastructure or the Orion spacecraft itself. One of those casualties might be the SLS rocket. The program is managed by NASA, with suppliers spread across the United States and prime contractors working under cost-plus arrangements with the space agency, meaning the government is on the hook to pay for any delays or cost overruns.
If confirmed he'll be the 4th NASA administrator who's actually flown in space, according to the article.
And according to Wikipedia, Isaacman was the commander of Inspiration4, a private spaceflight using SpaceX's Crew Dragon Resilience that launched in 2021. The crew returned to Earth on September 18, 2021, after orbiting at 585 km (364 mi) in altitude. The mission was part of a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to which Isaacman pledged to donate $100 million.
Thanks to Slashdot reader FallOutBoyTonto for sharing the news.
"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."
Isaacman, 41, is the founder and CEO of Shift4, a mobile payment processing platform, and co-founded Draken International, which owns a fleet of retired fighter jets to pose as adversaries for military air combat training... Isaacman, an evangelist for the commercial space industry, has criticized some of NASA's decisions on the Artemis program. In several posts on X, he questioned the agency's decision to fund two redundant lunar landers, while not planning for any backup to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which costs $2.2 billion per copy, not including expenses for ground infrastructure or the Orion spacecraft itself. One of those casualties might be the SLS rocket. The program is managed by NASA, with suppliers spread across the United States and prime contractors working under cost-plus arrangements with the space agency, meaning the government is on the hook to pay for any delays or cost overruns.
If confirmed he'll be the 4th NASA administrator who's actually flown in space, according to the article.
And according to Wikipedia, Isaacman was the commander of Inspiration4, a private spaceflight using SpaceX's Crew Dragon Resilience that launched in 2021. The crew returned to Earth on September 18, 2021, after orbiting at 585 km (364 mi) in altitude. The mission was part of a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to which Isaacman pledged to donate $100 million.
Thanks to Slashdot reader FallOutBoyTonto for sharing the news.
I don't minimize his business accomplishments. (Score:5, Insightful)
And technically he meetst he criteria to be called an "astronaut". But he didn't qualify for that like a NASA astronaut; he basically paid to have himself shipped to orbit as cargo.
Clearly he's a space enthusiast and a person of some business ability; if he understands his own limitations and can recognize technical talent, he'll do a good job. But it's not like he's *qualified*.
Re:I don't minimize his business accomplishments. (Score:4, Informative)
Your complaint is that Jared did not qualify for NASA's astronaut program? So what? Clearly he would have passes a properly structured qualification program. A program that no doubt is political (the government runs it). He did the job well. You think any astronaut would be a well qualified NASA administrator though? NASA is a large organization with thousands of employees working on hundreds of projects. Jared Isaacman knows how to run those, and run those well. He is probably the most qualified.
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I'm not complaining about anything. I'm just saying calling him an "astronaut" -- which he technically is -- doesn't qualify him to understand the operations of NASA the way being a career astronaut would. It's almost a piece of trivia on his resume.
People get really tetchy about billionaires not being supermen.
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Agreed. like you said.. technically, he falls under the definition... technically.
In my book, he's a "space tourist"... not an astronaut in my book. That term should not be watered down with the likes of anyone having a large enough cheque... he wasn't a mission specialist... he wasn't completing a mission in space... his task was to enjoy the ride... that's it... his training was composed of what was essential for the crew safety in the event of an emergency.
But I am also curious - what qualities/experi
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William M. Allen was president of Boeing during its glory years as an engineering company. But he was not an engineer, he was a lawyer, and in fact when first offered the position he declined because he felt he didn't understand enough about engineering. Right there you have a quality that's rare in a CEO or high level administrator: humility. He knew where he could lead and where ye should follow.
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Your complaint is that Jared did not qualify for NASA's astronaut program? So what? Clearly he would have passes a properly structured qualification program. A program that no doubt is political (the government runs it).
I am by no means an expert on this topic, but it seems to me that NASA's space flight program is -- or at least was, before the advent of Space Force -- run by the Air Force, which I do not believe anyone would characterize as "political" to anywhere near the same realm as, you know, politics. And so I can't help but suspect that your use of the phrase "properly structured qualification program" is meant to denote any program that would pass Jared Isaacman.
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Are you saying that a Senator doesn't know what it takes to manage a staff, testify to a congressional oversight committee, or lobby Senators on behalf of NASA? Because that would be a very silly thing to say, and that would describe a large chunk of what the NASA Administrator does.
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Bill Nelson is the convenient front face for NASA, leaving the very capable Pam Melroy [wikipedia.org] to actually get shit done.
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Re:I don't minimize his business accomplishments. (Score:5, Insightful)
When has Trump ever put anyone in a job position that they were qualified for? DeJoy has completely ruined the USPS. I get bi-weekly shipments for my business, and an entire *box* of products, easily worth over $500 just completely vanished recently and my supplier had to re-send it.
Re:I don't minimize his business accomplishments. (Score:4, Insightful)
When has Trump ever put anyone in a job position that they were qualified for?
Someone qualified might have an opinion that he doesn't agree with.
Re:I don't minimize his business accomplishments. (Score:4, Insightful)
I think Trump mostly burned through all the "qualified AND politically aligned with Trump" people during term #1.
This particular pick seems fairly innocuous to me, though. I don't want to read too much into what's just a statement, but his head seems to be in the right place at least.
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el Bunko's notion of "business" is a bunko scheme. Look at his "companies", they were Ma and Pop enterprises that he ran into the ground and stuck investors with the bill. His court case in NYS showed just how corrupt he was and is, and there is still a retired fed. judge riding shotgun over his main "company" because he couldn't be trusted to keep honest books.
And he constantly stiffed small companies that were foolish enough to provide goods and services to his "companies" because he had enough money to t
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Jim Mattis, John Kelly, and William Barr all come to mind pretty quickly. I don't agree with them politically, but they were definitely all qualified for their roles.
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John Kelly, and William Barr were enablers. Most of his alleged cabinet, outside of Mattis, were enablers. They got their roles because they were willing to shore up his "policies". Barr only got religion in the last month or two of that alleged presidency when he realized how corrupt he really was. He enabled el Presidente almost up until the end, then he realized he would himself would be on the hook for el Presidente's schemes to steal the election. Only then did he pull back just to save his ass, his so
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Being an enabler and being qualified are not mutually exclusive. One was a Marine Corps general - great qualification for chief of staff, and the other was so qualified he'd actually done the role of Attorney General before.
You don't need to agree with someone to consider them qualified.
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And Kelly, who was originally the head of Homeland Security, was named Chief of Staff to replace Reince Priebus - which illustrates the other side, where Trump tends to burn through people quickly as they fall out of his good graces (and/or do stupid things because they had no business in the role in the first place).
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I'm no fan of DeJoy. I'm surprised he kept his job under the Biden administration. Let's not forget that DeJoy appeared on the scene as Trump was about to be re-elected, and on DeJoy's watch, there were attempts to cripple the postal system so that it couldn't handle mail-in ballots.
As for your missing shipment, l certainly don't doubt that it happened, and that it sucked. But like any other establishment, the USPS isn't perfect. Despite all of the efforts to secure and safeguard packages, sometimes they di
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Let's not forget that DeJoy appeared on the scene as Trump was about to be re-elected
Oops, didn't proof-read that very well, did I? DeJoy was appointed in the summer of 2020, just before the election that Trump lost. Trump's re-election happened last month.
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I'm no fan of DeJoy. I'm surprised he kept his job under the Biden administration. Let's not forget that DeJoy appeared on the scene as Trump was about to be re-elected, and on DeJoy's watch, there were attempts to cripple the postal system so that it couldn't handle mail-in ballots.
The main reason is that Biden could not just replace him. The Postmaster General is selected by the Board of Governors of the Post Office and does not report to the POTUS.
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Like many of el Bunko's picks, this is just another piece of selling American infrastructure to the corporate moguls. el Bunko has been bought and paid for by the rich, and this is just him giving back.
The nominee is part of Elmo's empire, and is another example of fascism (in the old sense of a seamless join between industry and government). The fascists, in the guise of the Federalist Society, have already taken the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court.
Re: I don't minimize his business accomplishments. (Score:1)
When has Trump ever put anyone in a job position that they were qualified for? DeJoy has completely ruined the USPS. I get bi-weekly shipments for my business, and an entire *box* of products, easily worth over $500 just completely vanished recently and my supplier had to re-send it
To recap, you believe Jared Isaacman is unqualified to head NASA, and your evidence is... that you lost a package recently?
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Alternatives to NASA shipping only appeared within the last few years. You cannot blame them for waiting to see how the companies were handling the job before they gave up that capability.
"we should have gotten a dozen James Webb telescopes for that price even as new tec" Oh, do tell. You were in on the financial planning and the technical aspects of getting something that complicated into space?
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His job is vision and communications.
They usually pick some random Congressman who likes Star Trek.
well, do you consider... (Score:4, Insightful)
James E Webb [nasa.gov] to have been qualified? He was NASA's second administrator and was they guy in charge during the successful Apollo era - many think we would not have accomplished Kennedy's moon landing goal without him. His college degree was in education. He later followed it with a degree in law. He was not much of a "spaceflight enthusiast"; he was much more interested in using NASA to experiment on different ways to manage things and would have been just as happy (possibly happier) if Kennedy had announced an unmanned probe to Saturn instead of a manned moon landing (or ANY manned mission). The closest he ever got to space was his two years of active duty as a pilot in the Marine Corps (1930-1932).
There are those who think that anybody without experience in big government agencies is not qualified to run them, but that's NOT what the founders of this nation intended. They intended that the people running the government would go into it with a number of years of experience in the private sector, then they'd serve in government for a while, and then they'd GO HOME. This government may well currently have a standing army of professional bureaucrats and administrators who are always employed in government, or who cycle back-and-forth between government and "think tanks" (depending on if their party is in power or not at the time), but that's a violation of the intention of its designers.
Sadly, these days, there's also a tendency to denounce as incompetent, corrupt, or unqualified, any nominee for a government post who is not a member of the party of the person doing the denouncing. Loving or hating Donald Trump is simply not grounds for judging whether any particular nominee of his is "qualified" for a position, just as it was also not for the people serving in the Obama or Biden or Clinton administrations.
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yes, and... (Score:2)
While people on the left scream about "January 6th"... Trump DID in fact leave peacefully on the exact date he was supposed to, even though he and many of his supporters believe the 2020 election was conducted illegally in about 5 states.
also...
People on the right remember (but are less vocal about) the 2000 election in which Al Gore lost, but insisted on re-count after re-count (only in Democrat-majority counties), demanded overseas military ballots be not counted, and then dragged the whole mess through t
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While people on the left scream about "January 6th"... Trump DID in fact leave peacefully on the exact date he was supposed to, even though he and many of his supporters believe the 2020 election was conducted illegally in about 5 states.
also...
People on the right remember (but are less vocal about) the 2000 election in which Al Gore lost, but insisted on re-count after re-count (only in Democrat-majority counties), demanded overseas military ballots be not counted, and then dragged the whole mess through the courts up to the point that the transition to the new Bush admin was delayed past the normal date - something Trump did NOT do. People forget that the Gore legal fight delayed the start of the Bush admin so far that by the time of the 9-11 terror attacks that September some of Bush's nominees for government positions were still not confirmed and there were still Clinton people in place.
also...
In the 1960 election, people were well-aware of voting irregularities in places like Texas and Illinois and members of the Nixon team were sure he'd won and wanted him to contest the election. Nixon thought that the fight and the re-counting etc would be bad for the country and ordered his people to drop any objections and accept the Kennedy victory. I personally suspect this may have contributed to his illegal actions a dozen years later, but at least in 1960 Nixon acted out of a concern for what was best for the country.
My point here is NOT partisan, it's this: for all the partisan complaints and hyper-ventilations by people in BOTH parties, we in the USA have actually ALWAYS enjoyed a peaceful transition of power in the modern era. We've had some massive protests (like Jan 6, 2021 and indeed January of 2017) but the ACTUAL TRANSFER OF POWER has always happened without any weapons being used, no matter how bitterly the campaign was fought. In fact, the only non-peaceful transition ever was sort of the 1860 election - the transition itself was indeed peaceful, but the southern Democrats then lit-off an actual civil war a short time after.
Oh good lord you have got to be kidding. Are you seriously trying to equate the legitimate challenge that Gore launched in the courts -- then lost and honored, even though many on the left maintain that the Supreme Court decision was brutally flawed and clearly partisan -- with the 60-plus baseless cases that Trump brought and lost and continues to this day to insist he should have won, over an election that he insist to this day that he did win, and over which he incited an attempted coup? How do you walk
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And technically he meetst he criteria to be called an "astronaut". But he didn't qualify for that like a NASA astronaut; he basically paid to have himself shipped to orbit as cargo.
Clearly he's a space enthusiast and a person of some business ability; if he understands his own limitations and can recognize technical talent, he'll do a good job. But it's not like he's *qualified*.
Some would argue what NASA needs is good business sense. Granted, it's not going to do any good to have a person with good business sense in charge so long as Congress controls the purse and the basic tenets of where that purse is to be spent, but at least having a person that's successful in business in charge gives a sparkly sheen to the proceedings. Until he says something to piss Trump off and gets fired. Hope he doesn't tease the guy about being a shitty businessman.
another Trump troll (Score:5, Insightful)
"...said Jim Bridenstine, who led NASA as administrator during Trump's first term in the White House. "
And what did he accomplish? So why should we care what he says?
If the Trump administration thinks cutting trillions out of the budget is so important, why have a NASA at all? Why not eliminate all of it?
"...positions him as an ideal candidate to lead NASA into a bold new era of exploration and discovery."
Just what we need, a bold new era of discovery paid for by cancelling social security and medicare. Leave the elderly homeless, starving and without health care, so long as Leon Musk gets his government contracts.
"Isaacman, 41, is the founder and CEO of Shift4, a mobile payment processing platform..."
So his claim to fame is not unlike the PayPal villains, what a surprise. He sounds imminently qualified. I like how he said "On my last mission to space, my crew and I ..." as though he did anything other than pay a bunch of money for a ticket, or that he was the boss of the people doing the work. Sounds like a perfect asshole for the Trump administration.
Hmmmm I noticed that the ONLY foreign cash... (Score:1)
you called out for cutting is the cash going to the only nation of Jews on Earth...
Our current president has been doing one of the most insane things imaginable: Funding BOTH SIDES in a war! With one hand he funds Israel, but with the other hand he sends "humanitarian aid" to the Gaza (where Hamas grabs it) and gives billions of dollars to Iran, which funds Hamas. In World War II the American people would have driven FDR from office if he was simultaneously helping the UK against Germany AND sending "humani
give it up, anon coward (Score:2)
Israel has one of the most capable military forces on the planet, for their size. If they are trying to commit "genocide" (the elimination of an an entire genetic group) then they are mighty incompetent. If they are trying to wipe out all the women and children, then they are likewise mighty incompetent.
Drop the presumption that anybody who defends Israel is either a Jew or a racist evangelical. To defend Israel, one only needs to be aware of history and be rational. The day Israel disarms, the Jewish peopl
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Billions for Israel? Let's assume, generously, we give them $10 Billion a year. The Fed. Deficit is $1.8 Trillion. So you won't be saving the fed. budget by cutting off Israel. You want to save the fed. budget, start by making the rich pay for the privilege of screwing the rest of us, then we'll see how far that gets us and start making decisions on what to cut.
Re: another Trump troll (Score:2)
...and this, people, is the tragedy of TDS.
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NASA: Not As Safe Anymore (Score:2)
With such an administrator, sounds like NASA might soon to go into administration
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Isaacman, an evangelist for the commercial space industry and former astraunaut for commercial NASA competitor, is chosen to lead NASA. What could possibly go wrong.
With such an administrator, sounds like NASA might soon to go into administration
I get the joke. But on this side of the pond we say "go bankrupt." Which NASA can't do, because it's a government institution. It can't spend money the government doesn't give to it. At worst it would be shut down or dramatically decreased in size.
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For the record I don't think this guy will have a good time as an administrator. Unless he was specifically hired to be a hatchet man, witch I don't, he is going to have to be fighting Trump AND congress for funding as well as dealing with Musk, quite possibly directly.
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Right now, Trump loves Musk, and this dude was SpaceX rider. How is he not going to have a good time? NASA will be turned into the government face of SpaceX, Trump will shovel money at Musk because why not give one of the richest people to ever live more money, and this dude will essentially be riding a never ending stream of cash-flow from government coffers to Musk. Unless congress manages to tighten the strings despite Trump's best efforts.
Musk and Ramaswamy being put in charge of government efficiency,
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Trump's relationships with many of his closest allies have gone sour. And many (some?) haven't. It's still too early to see how long the Trump-Musk bromance lasts.
Something I heard about Trump during his first term:
- he loves you on Monday;
- he hates you on Wednesday;
- he fires you on Friday.
Remember that Musk wasn't always fond of Trump. He could sour again also.
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Trump's relationships with many of his closest allies have gone sour. And many (some?) haven't. It's still too early to see how long the Trump-Musk bromance lasts.
Something I heard about Trump during his first term:
- he loves you on Monday; - he hates you on Wednesday; - he fires you on Friday.
Remember that Musk wasn't always fond of Trump. He could sour again also.
If not for the horror they'll be capable of unleashing, that Bromance could be some very entertaining stuff to watch unfold. They're both a bit overly sensitive when it comes to criticism, and both tend to fly off at the mouth in unexpected ways.
NASA is Not supposed to be "Safe" (Score:2)
It's supposed to be an agency at the dangerous bleeding edge of technology. It's supposed to be taking risks to expand the envelope of human knowledge and capabilities.
The Apollo 13 and 15 incidents, and the two shuttle losses each contributed to the agency (and the politicians overseeing and funding them) becoming more and more risk-averse. Layers of bureaucracy (which have the effect of providing layers of blame protection) and tons of paperwork and studies and committees etc have become the cholesterol
Excellent Choice (Score:1)
NASA needs to focus on research and contract out everything else. Old school bureaucrats don't want to do that. SLS and Artemis are proof of this.
Re:Excellent Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Excellent Choice (Score:4, Interesting)
I've worked with both public sector and private sector entities (as a consulting engineer) and for the most part they have both been inefficient. The main thing that reduces the public sector's efficiency compared to the private sector are the (necessary, in my opinion) requirements for the government to deal fairly with contractors and constituents, which causes most of the red tape and slowness of government entities.
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Re:Excellent Choice (Score:5, Insightful)
You're putting a capitalist in charge of research? That's the reason why large companies no longer do any research, it doesn't generate immediate profits. We're stuck with universities doing it with tax dollars.
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That's the reason why large companies no longer do any research, it doesn't generate immediate profits.
I'm curious where it is you think that fantasy comes from. Universities have always done research. Companies continue to do research themselves. Most major companies doing anything technical have a well staffed applied sciences division.
What are you looking at that gives you such an observer bias?
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NASA needs to focus on research and contract out everything else. Old school bureaucrats don't want to do that. SLS and Artemis are proof of this.
I always love seeing the "government can't do anything right, on time, or within budget" people talk about government departments tNASA needs to focus on research and contract out everything else. Old school bureaucrats don't want to do that. SLS and Artemis are proof of this.hat are actually doing things exactly the way they claim to want as examples of government waste. Who do you think is building the SLS? Have you maybe heard of Boeing? NASA contracts everything out. They're basically legally forbidden
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I always love seeing the "government can't do anything right, on time, or within budget" people talk about government departments tNASA needs to focus on research and contract out everything else. Old school bureaucrats don't want to do that. SLS and Artemis are proof of this.hat are actually doing things exactly the way they claim to want as examples of government waste.
No, SLS and Artemis are what happens when you let a bunch of politicians override NASA's wishes and give them "what they really want" instead of what they're actually asking for. It's a giant pork barrel project created by the U.S. Senate.
NASA contracting everything out is fine, but only if they keep Congress's grubby little mitts off of it. The problem is that Congress has to approve the budget, so first it's a small "Could you make sure you do a little bit of this in my district" requirement in exchange
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No, SLS and Artemis are what happens when you let a bunch of politicians override NASA's wishes and give them "what they really want" instead of what they're actually asking for. It's a giant pork barrel project created by the U.S. Senate.
I don't actually disagree with that, but the GP was complaining that "NASA needs to focus on research and contract out everything else. Old school bureaucrats don't want to do that. SLS and Artemis are proof of this." when that is exactly what NASA does and has been doing for decades. I see this argument all the time where someone complains that some government agency that does everything through contractors is inefficient and should fix the problem by doing everything through contractors.
Otherwise, in theo
Good news for the Hubble space telescope (Score:2)
That would be good news for the Hubble space telescope
I wonder if he will be the one personally repairing Hubble.
Crazy times.
Everyone gets a trophy, astronauts, and space tour (Score:1)
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He's a pilot and flies (and owns) a MiG-29UB fighter jet. He also was commander of two private SpaceX missions, not just a passenger.
Some of you people aren't better than the MAGA crowd when it comes to facts.
Redefinition of the term "Astronaut" (Score:1)
Hey OP, the definition of astronaut was been changed in recent years because of space tourists like this person. Please refer to the person who went into space as some kind of space tourist. Here's the article on the reclassification : https://www.nbcnews.com/scienc... [nbcnews.com]
I'm disappointed that the term astronaut is getting devalued like this.
No jokes? (Score:2)
So much potential Funny here...
Makes perfect sense. (Score:2)