Sounds like maybe an Elon Musk suggestion to Trump. That is, Isaacman seems to learn when it comes to sidestepping regional bureaucracy...
#Pilot: "In April 2009, on his second attempt, he set a world record for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet, making the flight ... about 20 hours faster than the previous record of 82 hours ... skipping stops in India and Japan, where he encountered hours-long ground delays in his previous attempt in 2008."
After Trump was elected, Eric Berger put the chances of SLS surviving at just 50-50. Now that Jared Isaacman was selected as NASA administrater, Eric thinks it's more like 75-25 that SLS is cancelled.
C CDec 5, 2024 02:12 AM (This post was last modified: Dec 5, 2024 02:15 AM by C C.)
(Dec 5, 2024 12:49 AM)Yazata Wrote: After Trump was elected, Eric Berger put the chances of SLS surviving at just 50-50. Now that Jared Isaacman was selected as NASA administrater, Eric thinks it's more like 75-25 that SLS is cancelled.
If Dragon could go beyond Earth orbit and dock with the Lunar Gateway station, I'd seen no reason for even keeping Orion around. It's based on the outdated, circa 20 year old design of the defunct Crew Exploration Vehicle.
$26.4 billion dollar project cost for SLS down the drain. Too bad they can't terminate futile wars as quickly: "But we've already spent a trillion dollars on it. We can't flush that away for nothing results. We've got to spend a trillion more and a cost of thousands of more lives to ensure victory."
Sounds like maybe an Elon Musk suggestion to Trump.
I think that space excites Trump, but he doesn't know a whole lot about it or about who's who in space. So yeah, I expect that Trump probably did ask Elon who Elon thought would be a good choice in that role. Who better to ask?
I have to say that it looks like an inspired choice. The space-nuts are almost 100% approving. Some of them think that it's so cool that they can't believe it. Everybody is excited by what NASA might do with a visionary like Jared in charge.
Another thing that excites people is that Jared is very excited not only about space, but about the first 'A' in NASA too: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
But there are rumblings of discontent. I was talking to a long-time NASA guy who has put years of his life into SLS and it kills him to face the possibility of it being cancelled. So there's fear and apprehension as well as excitement inside NASA. Any existing project that might get terminated in favor of something better already has a constituency.
And there are rumblings in Congress too. SLS is as expensive as it is because it's really a giant pork-barrel jobs program. There's something in SLS for subcontractors in every Congressional district. Efficiency, simplicity and affordability were the last thing on Congress' mind when they approved it.
But despite all that, my feeling is that the Senate will confirm Jared. He's qualified and he's squeaky clean with no scandals. Trump (and Elon) are on a roll right now too, and have plenty of clout. (Elon is on Capital Hill as I write this, speaking with members of Congress.)
Father & son in one of the Congressional office buildings this morning. Matching expressions!
YazataApr 3, 2025 04:00 AM (This post was last modified: Apr 3, 2025 05:28 AM by Yazata.)
Word is that Jared Isaacman's Senate hearing prior to their vote on whether to confirm him as NASA Administrator is set for next Wednesday April 9.
Jared says that he's been preparing for weeks for the grilling that he will get from the Senators. They will probably ask him all kinds of tough questions about things like the future of Artemis and SLS. And he probably has all kinds of diplomatic answers prepared. (I hope that CSPAN or somebody televises the hearing.)
I'm still confident that the Senate will confirm him. He isn't tremendously controversial (he's an aviation guy, not a political guy), and I don't see a whole lot of organized opposition to him like there was for Tulsi Gabbard or Kash Patel. And the latter two managed to be confirmed.
YazataApr 9, 2025 04:35 AM (This post was last modified: Apr 9, 2025 04:50 AM by Yazata.)
Isaacman spent today meeting privately with the Senators who will vote on his nomination. And word in leaking out that he assured them that under his leadership, NASA will remain focused on returning humans to the Moon, this time to stay. The Moon is NASA's thing, while Mars is Elon's thing. (Elon has called the Moon a distraction.) Some of the Senators (Ted Cruz in particular) expressed concern about the growing Chinese humans to the Moon project.
I haven't heard anything about whether Isaacman proposes to keep the current SLS architecture with its Gateway lunar space station circling the Moon. I kind of expect at least some of the Artemis architecture to be replaced, provided that some combination of commercial vehicles (Starship, New Glenn, Vulcan, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy etc.) can perform the same tasks more cheaply, efficiently and repeatedly at a useful cadence.
Eric Berger says
"With Cruz on board, Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA in good shape."
Dec 4, 2024 10:18 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 4, 2024 10:20 PM by C C.)
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