18.11.2025

With his renomination by President Trump, billionaire private space traveler Jared Isaacman has won the space Game of Thrones. All he has to do is go through the confirmation process again before he assumes the Iron Throne of NASA. Let that process be done with all due speed, since Isaacman has a lot to do when he becomes head of the space agency.

The Daily Mail has a nice rundown on how the effort to renominate Isaacman, spearheaded by Vice President JD Vance, played out. The bottom line is that the five months between the day Trump denominated Isaacman and the day he renominated him were wasted time that could have been spent reforming NASA and getting its flagship Artemis return to the moon program on track.

Ars Technica has a bleak examination of what awaits Isaacman. NASA has been buffeted by budget cuts, workforce reductions and low morale. The government shutdown certainly hasn’t helped. Indeed, many of the space agency’s problems have persisted even before its “summer of discontent.” 

Per Ars Technica, “years of neglect, changing priorities, mismanagement, creeping bureaucracy, meeting bloat and other factors have taken their toll. NASA is still capable of doing great things. It still inspires. But it needs a fresh start.”

The top of Isaacman’s list of things to do is to get American boots on lunar soil before China. The mandate is at once controversial and difficult.

The idea of beating China back to the moon runs into the fact that the U.S. already did that, on July 20, 1969 during the mission of Apollo 11. On the other hand, that was then, more than 50 years ago, and this is now. A Chinese moon landing before Artemis III would be embarrassing — to NASA, the U.S., and especially to Trump.

The outgoing interim NASA Administrator Sean Duffy is owed thanks for recognizing that the goal of beating China back to the moon is in jeopardy. 

SpaceX, which has the contract for the human landing system, was behind schedule getting its vehicle, based on the mighty Starship rocket, operational. The necessity of refueling the vehicle in Earth orbit before proceeding to the moon has started to make people nervous.

Currently, both SpaceX and Blue Origin have submitted ideas for a stripped-down human landing system that might be developed on time. NASA is currently evaluating the proposals.

NASA’s standard operating procedure would be to spend some time evaluating each proposal and then choose one to be part of Artemis III. Then everyone will cross their collective fingers and hope that the option chosen will be ready on time.

Another option exists. No matter which human landing system design is chosen, part of the development process will be to fly the vehicle to the moon uncrewed and then lift off to at least lunar orbit before flying it with astronauts. 

Why not mandate that both SpaceX and Blue Origin be asked to fly the uncrewed lunar surface mission? The first company that does so successfully will get the Artemis III contract.

Space races between nations can be exciting and productive, as the Apollo-era race to the moon demonstrated. A space race between two American companies would be something else entirely. Imagine how lucrative the betting markets would be.

Nothing should detract from the fact that another race to see who is the first to plant a flag is, at best, a side quest to the larger effort. NASA and its commercial and international partners are returning to the moon to establish a base, something that will become a permanent community of humans living and working on the moon for the benefit of all humankind.

The establishment of the lunar base is the real task facing Isaacman, now that he is going to be NASA administrator. It is the goal from which everything else flows, including sending humans to Mars.

China may or may not send its astronauts to the moon first. They may walk on the moon, plant their flag of tyranny and sing “The East is Red,” the Chinese Communist Party anthem. Beijing may boast of such a feat, grinding the face of the West in humiliation. But, in the long run, it will not matter, so long as the lunar base is built by the United States and its allies.

Of course, ideally, NASA will be able to do both, get back to the moon first and do so best.

No pressure, Isaacman.

Quelle: The Hill