The US Senate recently held hearings on the nomination for NASA administrator. Billionaire and astronaut Jared Isaacman has been nominated for the position for the second time. He claims that under his leadership, the US space agency will be able to defeat China in the lunar race.
New head of NASA
The US Senate held hearings this week on the nomination for NASA administrator. This is not the final vote, but one of the last stages before it. That is why everyone was so closely watching what politicians would say about Donald Trump’s nominee Jared Isaacman and what he himself would say.
Isaacman’s candidacy is both controversial and the only acceptable option in the current situation. Jared is 42 and a billionaire who made his fortune in online payments. At the same time, he has been interested in flying for many years, has a pilot’s license, and has even visited space twice, albeit as a tourist.
In any case, Isaacman is one of the most knowledgeable people in Donald Trump’s circle when it comes to space matters. In the spring, he was nominated as a candidate for the position of NASA administrator and had already passed almost all the stages of the selection process when a quarrel broke out between the American president and another billionaire, Elon Musk, and their relationship became very strained.
Jared is very close to Musk, so his candidacy was withdrawn at that time. Since then, the space agency has been headed by the Minister of Transportation. And no one, including Trump, considers this normal, because it cannot function properly this way.
What Isaacman said
In general, the root cause of all this drama is that Trump is in constant conflict with the American intelligentsia, which includes NASA staff. But he cannot shut down the space program or simply let it fall apart. This means that the agency needs a normal leader.
And again, there aren’t so many options besides Isaacman. During the hearings, one of the senators said that it was all starting to resemble Groundhog Day and that it was clear that everyone was interested in preventing a new major conflict and ensuring that NASA could function normally.
Isaacman, who was present at the hearing, understands all this perfectly well. He knows exactly what issue is worrying everyone. China, which has its own lunar ambitions and is racing ahead of the US in this field. And in his speech, the billionaire focused precisely on preventing China from overtaking the US. He promises to beat it in space.
At the same time, he tries to smooth over sensitive issues. The main topic is Elon Musk, who has his own views on the future of space exploration in the US and has his own commercial interests in the field. The conflict of interest is obvious, but Isaacman responded to a question about it by saying that he had an exclusively business relationship with the owner of SpaceX.
According to phys.org
