The US must return astronauts to the Moon before China mounts its first crewed landing there, NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman predicted on Wednesday. He also vowed that the country will not endure another gap in its human-spaceflight capabilities as the International Space Station approaches retirement.
Isaacman appeared before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and unsurprisingly, voiced strong support for US President Donald Trump's budget reconciliation law, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, even as the administration's separate budget proposal includes potentially painful cuts to the storied space agency.
Indeed, Isaacman's opening speech was chock-full of promises that NASA's budget will struggle to write checks for.
After praising the Artemis program, Isaacman told the committee that "America will return to the Moon before our great rival," and promised that the US would establish an "enduring presence" on the lunar surface.
Isaacman stated that returning astronauts to the Moon would be a priority, but that doing so would require reusable heavy-lift launch capabilities from commercial providers as well as in-space propellant transfer.
The billionaire and former commercial astronaut also committed to ensuring that there is no gap between the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS) and commercial Low Earth Orbit destinations. "We can never accept a gap in our capabilities again," intoned the wannabe NASA head, "Not in Low Earth Orbit, or in our ability to reach the Moon."
Capability gaps are all too familiar to NASA watchers. There was a gap of almost six years between the last Apollo mission (the Apollo Soyuz Test Project) and the first launch of the Space Shuttle, and nearly nine years between the end of the Space Shuttle program and the first crewed launch of a commercial spacecraft from US soil.
The gap since astronauts last walked on the Moon continues to widen. It is now over half a century since the last Apollo lunar mission, and there is a chance the gap could reach 60 years before another flag can be erected on the Moon's surface.
However, making a commitment to do something and having the budget to make it happen are two different things. Earlier this week, Isaacman also committed to relocating a retired Space Shuttle to Houston, despite some estimates that the $85 million budget assigned for this task would not be enough.
Should Isaacman, as seems likely, be confirmed in the position next week, he will represent a change for the US space agency, with greater emphasis on commercial involvement. He may also have to contend with some of the deepest proposed budget cuts NASA has faced in decades. When pressed about the administration's plan to roughly halve NASA's science budget, Isaacman was noncommittal, saying only that he supported the broader goal of reducing the US national debt.
"If I'm confirmed," he said, "I'd love to get my arms around where we are presently at." ®
Source: The register