Jared Isaacman, candidate for President Donald Trump for the administrator of NASA, Fields questions from senators during his confirmation hearing. Credit: Livestream NASA
Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments, the candidate of President Donald Trump for the NASA administrator, has finally obtained his day in the Senate and put his vision for the space agency to pursue missions on both the moon and on Mars.
During Isaacman’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee for trade, science and transport on Wednesday, the billionaire entrepreneur and the civil astronaut put questions in place and raised others. A vote to confirm Isaacman – who has obtained ample support of the space industry and the control of the congress on its bonds with the SPACEX ELON MUSK CEO – is not expected at least until the end of April.
The senators faced Isaacman on NASA’s ambitions for the Moon and Mars, who were questioned by the comments of Trump and Musk. Trump in his inauguration speech promised to land American astronauts on Mars but did not mention the moon. Musk, who has long imagined a human colony on Mars, called the moon a “distraction” and last week said that “stopping at the moon simply slows down the achievement of Mars”.
“We have to remain the path. An extreme passage of the priorities in this phase would almost certainly mean a red moon, giving the ground in China for generations to come,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the president of the Committee.
Isaacman undertook to return the Americans to the Moon in front of China, which plans to do it in 2030. But he added that he would “give priority to the sending of American astronauts to Mars” and that Nasa would develop the skills to return to the moon “along the road”.
The comment would seem to put a landing on the moon on the rear burner. But Isaacman said that the space agency could pursue Moon and Mars missions at the same time. The current plans ask the NASA to launch the lunar landing of the Artemis III crew in the middle of 2027, more than half a century after the end of the Apollo program.
“We must not make a binary decision of Moon against Mars, or the moon must come first against Mars,” he said. “We could be parallel to these efforts and do the almost impossible.”
Isaacman faced further questions about the Artemis program, which Trump created during his first term. The senators explicitly asked him about the launch system of the NASA space (SLS), the vehicle of the crew assigned for Artemis II – which does not include a landing – and Artemis III. Isaacman criticized the space vehicle to be “outrageously expensive”, but on Wednesday he seemed to change his melody.
“I think it’s the best and fastest way to get [to the Moon]”Said Isaacman.
Later, however, he added: “I don’t think it’s the long -term way to get to and the Moon and Mars with great frequency”.
Isaacman has made similar comments on other components of Artemis such as the Lunar Gateway space station, which implies that they may not be long -term solutions.
“I am not going – for now – to say that I would have canceled any program,” he said.
The SHIFT4 CEO has undertaken for the long -term operation of a different orbital laboratory, the International Space Station (ISS). Isaacman said he had “familiarity” with Musk’s call to Deorbit the ISS “as soon as possible”, which is in conflict with a NASA and Spacex plan to do it in 2030. He supported for the maintenance of the space station until his planned retirement.
“I don’t think we should deorbit now,” said Isaacman. “I think we have to exploit the space station more while we have it and understand what we can achieve in the single environment of microgravity.”
It is not surprising that Musk’s name came in abundance during the hearing. Isaacman flew into two private Spacex missions and bought two more, but promised to end those contracts if it were confirmed. In the meantime, Musk has played an instrumental role in the Department of Efficiency of the Government (Doge) of Trump, who is examining NASA’s expenditure and policies. Critics fear that the entanglement could Net Spacex – which has earned over $ 13 billion in NASA funding in the last ten years – even more contracts.
Isaacman tried to appease concerns by claiming that he had not discussed Nasa’s problems with Musk from his appointment. Several times, however, he refused to say if Musk was present when Trump interviewed him for work last fall.
“My meeting was with the President of the United States,” Isaacman said assertively.
The senator and markey (D-Mass.) He was skeptical, replying: “I assume that you don’t want to answer the question directly because Elon Musk was in the room.”
Note of the editor: This story appeared for the first time Fly.
