"After a rudderless year and an exodus of around 4,000 employees due to Trump administration cuts, NASA got what may be its first piece of good news recently. On December 17, the Senate confirmed billionaire Jared Isaacman as the agency's new administrator. He now holds the power to rehabilitate a battered engine of scientific research, or steer it towards even more disruption."
"Considering the caliber of President Trump's other appointees, Isaacman is probably the best candidate for the job. Outside of being a successful entrepreneur, he has flown fighter jets and been to space twice as part of the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn private missions. One of those flights saw him complete the first commercial space walk, and travel farther from Earth than any human since the end of the Apollo program."
""Perfect is the enemy of the good. Isaacman checks a lot of boxes," says Keith Cowing, a former NASA employee and the founder of NASA Watch, a blog dedicated to the agency. "He's passed every requirement to fly in a spacecraft that American astronauts at NASA are required to pass. He also went out of his way to have a diverse crew, and shove as much science as he could in those missions.""
NASA endured a rudderless year and lost about 4,000 employees after Trump administration cuts. The Senate confirmed billionaire Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator on December 17. Isaacman combines entrepreneurship with flight experience, including fighter jets and two private missions, and completed the first commercial spacewalk and the farthest Earth travel since Apollo. Supporters note he met astronaut flight requirements, prioritized crew diversity, and added science to missions. A 62-page Project Athena plan written during his nomination raised concerns among insiders that he may misunderstand NASA operations and funding and could be receptive to the Trump administration's NASA agenda.
Read at Engadget
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]