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Title: America's Next NASA Administrator Will Not Be Former SpaceX Astronaut
Jared Isaacman

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/06/01/0...

In December it looked like NASA's next administrator would be the billionaire
businessman/space enthusiast who twice flew to orbit with SpaceX. But
Saturday the nomination was withdrawn "after a thorough review of prior
associations," according to an announcement made on social media. The
Guardian reports: His removal from consideration caught many in the space
industry by surprise. Trump and the White House did not explain what led to
the decision... In [Isaacman's] confirmation hearing in April, he sought to
balance Nasa's existing moon-aligned space exploration strategy with pressure
to shift the agency's focus on Mars, saying the US can plan for travel to
both destinations. As a potential leader of Nasa's 18,000 employees, Isaacman
faced a daunting task of implementing that decision to prioritize Mars, given
that Nasa has spent years and billions of dollars trying to return its
astronauts to the moon... Some scientists saw the nominee change as further
destabilizing to Nasa as it faces dramatic budget cuts without a confirmed
leader in place to navigate political turbulence between Congress, the White
House and the space agency's workforce. "It was unclear whom the
administration might tap to replace Isaacman," the article adds, though "One
name being floated is the retired US air force Lt Gen Steven Kwast, an early
advocate for the creation of the US Space Force..." Ars Technica notes that
Kwast, a former Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force, has a background
that "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."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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