New NASA administrator gets scrubbed

px_eliezer_

Trump withdraws Jared Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA ‘after a thorough review of prior associations’

The shake-up comes just days before the Senate was expected to vote on the nomination of Isaacman, who has twice traveled to space on private missions and has close ties to SpaceX chief Elon Musk.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/31/politics/nasa-jared-isaacman-trump-pull

He was too close to Musk….

broknsymetry

px_eliezer_ He was too close to Musk….

He had donated to the wrong political party.

telcodad

broknsymetry He had donated to the wrong political party.

Yes:

Records on OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization that tracks money in politics, show Isaacman donated to Democrats as recently as the 2024 election cycle, though he donated to Republicans in prior years.

MacLeech

There are whispers of a retired USAF general being nominated.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/05/trump-pulls-isaacman-nomination-for-space-source-nasa-is-fed/

The Trump administration did not immediately name a new nominee, but two people told Ars that former US Air Force Lieutenant General Steven L. Kwast may be near the top of the list. Now retired, Kwast has a distinguished record in the Air Force and is politically loyal to Trump and MAGA.

However, his background seems to be far less oriented toward NASA’s civil space mission and far more focused on seeing space as a battlefield—decidedly not an arena for cooperation and peaceful exploration.

Astyanax

MacLeech I think this has a lot to do with China’s lunar ambitions. Isaacman was too close to Musk who wanted to forget about the moon and focus all attention and resources on going to Mars.

We can’t just cede the moon to China while we pursue the longshot of landing on Mars. Trump’s possible new nominee, Kwast, seems to be kind of guy you’d want in charge of NASA to help thwart any of China’s progress.

This article is over 5 years old but discusses Kwast’s concerns about China in space:

https://www.twz.com/31445/recently-retired-usaf-general-makes-eyebrow-raising-claims-about-advanced-space-technology

MacLeech

Astyanax Musk who wanted to forget about the moon and focus all attention and resources on going to Mars.

Except, SpaceX is getting funding for Starship development from NASA to go to the moon and land humans. $2.89 billion for the Artemis III contract and $1.15 billion for Artemis IV.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/as-artemis-moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-americans-on-moon/
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/nasa-awards-spacex-second-contract-option-for-artemis-moon-landing/

Musk has repeatedly brought up a base on the moon in his Starship presentations

Astyanax

MacLeech Except, SpaceX is getting funding for Starship development from NASA to go to the moon and land humans. $2.89 billion for the Artemis III contract and $1.15 billion for Artemis IV.

True but he’d rather they’d pay him for rockets and other R&D for Mars than the moon.

MacLeech

Astyanax True but he’d rather they’d pay him for rockets and other R&D for Mars than the moon.

Just about all the R&D for the moon is also useful for Mars and he knows that.

Unless Musk had a falling out with Trump, Issacman’s closeness with Musk wasn’t the issue.

Also, China wants to land men on the moon by 2030 as well, a Mars sample return in 2031, before they go to Mars in 2033.

This wasn’t about Musk.

Astyanax

MacLeech This wasn’t about Musk.

It was more about China than Musk.