I understand some in the community have an affinity for specific hardware, but the focus should be on outcomes. With respect to SLS, the desired outcome is launching crewed Orion spacecraft at a reasonable cadence, rebuilding muscle memory, and buying down risk so we can land…
— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) April 17, 2026
[Mid-morning update]
An interesting interview with him.
[Noon update]
ICYMI, from Jared’s X post: “I do not want to throw away billions of taxpayer dollars, and time we do not have, on a flavor of a rocket that is not necessary to return astronauts to the moon.”
[Thursday-afternoon update]
Bob Zimmerman has thoughts on his Congressional hearing.
[Bumped]
Putting a crew on top of the test flight of the EUS was insane. At least the Centaur V has already completed certification for launching critical DoD payloads and has proven itself, and it has a legacy going back to 1962, if the name means anything.
But the whole SLS program is still a dumpster fire.
Yeah, it is. But there are still people who find the warmth it gives off comforting for some reason. Part of Apollo Cargo Cult techno-nostalgia I guess.
It’s fascinating how little grasp some of these people have of the technical progress made these last 10 – 15 years outside of the sclerotic demesnes of Old Guard NASA and its legacy contractors. Even more fascinating is the complete scorn with which they treat any criticisms based on expense and schedule. Weirdest of all might be their seeming certitude that there are any longer Congressional dinosaurs like former Sen. Shelby eager to throw in with them.
The last few months have been a bad time for such creatures. The next couple of years are going to be progressively worse. By the 2030s, PTSD and even catatonia should be appearing in their dwindling ranks. Things are going to be nearly as bad for dysfunctional nostalgists as they’re going to be for Moon Landing Deniers and Flat Earthers.
It’s fascinating how little grasp some of these people have of the technical progress made these last 10 – 15 years outside of the sclerotic demesnes of Old Guard NASA and its legacy contractors.
Indeed.
One thing about that embarrassing Artemis II recovery is the design concept was tested in 2009. More here. It is like they never watched one Dragon crew recovery in those 17 years and thought “maybe we could do something better?”
Well, when you have a system already “human-rated” why change it?
We have a big SLS rocket mainly because “Apollo” so why not a nostalgic recovery process to match?
Often wonder where we’d be if we’d stuck to the original Aries I firework?
Bingo.
“But there are still people who find the warmth it gives off comforting for some reason.”
I think that for such people, there’s just something mystical about seeing that NASA meatball on the side of a spacecraft rather than, you know, a corporate logo — something that’s usually bound up with certain ideological priors…
But for a lot of ’em it seems to be as much about who and what they *hate* as much as it is what they love. And who they hate isn’t just Elon Musk or SpaceX fanboys any longer. Go over to the Reddit subs r/SpaceLaunchSystem and r/ArtemisProgram and you can see that plenty of the regulars now absolutely loathe Jared Isaacman, too.
There’s a Brit science guy on yt, Alexander the OK, who does some great documentary work on space. In his latest video (on the Blue Streak project) he casually laments that the US is currently run by a fascist president and a fascist billionaire. Sigh. I was really enjoying this, but you’ve shown your colors. Unsubbed.
Why do leftists have to inject their politics into everything? My leftist friends do the same thing—always spouting the hate as if it’s the default, normal, universally shared viewpoint of all thinking people.
Politics is all they have.
Why? The good Doctor M. is right. Politics is not only all they have it’s pretty much all that they are. Leftism is not so much a political philosophy as it is a mental disorder. It is, I should hasten to note, a treatable mental disorder, but still a mental disorder. In an increasing number of cases, the cure has been spontaneous and autologous once the sufferer reaches a level of cognitive dissonance that shatters the bubble.
The Technology Connections guy did the same thing. Started talking about solar panels and ended with a giant Trump rant.
NASA’s sclerotic desmenese.
I like that.
And the examples are BO (NASA sclerosis) and SpaceX
demesne
I knew what you de-meant. 🙂
Apollo on Geritol.
I’m stealing that. Unfortunately no one past Boomers would get it. Unless they watch reruns of Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour. Which is only available on kinescopes if at all…
Round and round it goes and where it stops, nobody knows.
…Geritol, for iron poor, tired blood.
If you remember these phrases you’ll get the Apollo on Geritol reference.
Above all else, I care about outcomes, and so does the hardworking team at NASA
I don’t doubt Jared’s care, but I do doubt what many of the hardworking team counts as “outcomes” is what will get us back onto the moon’s surface. I’m not pretending the members of “the resistance” during Trump’s 1st term have been purged from NASA’s ranks. I recall them bragging on Facebook about slow walking Artemis I so it wouldn’t occur under Trump’s Presidency.
One of the problems with a bureaucracy is that bright-eyed college graduates land a job, and in many cases they slowly have their drive and determination squeezed out of them until they just trudge forwards to advance the bureaucracy’s objectives, if it even has any beyond remaining a stable and predictable mediocrity.
I’m sure many in NASA are having trouble understanding how Isaacman could cut a critical program that they are sure is on the path to the moon because their managers told them it was a critical part of the path to the moon, without quite explaining how that is without resorting to Underpants Gnomes.
So, just like everyone else. lol
No, not like everyone else.
I recall an interview that Tim Dodd did with Elon walking through Starbase. At one point some random welder walked up to Elon, gave him a hug, and said “we’re gonna build it!”
A welding job is just a welding job, but when you’re welding for SpaceX you’re doing something important.
Those bright eyed young’ns have the lights dimmed when they realize what they’re doing doesn’t matter.
“I recall them bragging on Facebook about slow walking Artemis I so it wouldn’t occur under Trump’s Presidency.”
Wow, really?
One hopes all such types took the retirement buyouts last year. Just to make sure, Jared probably ought to have someone looking into the social media histories of at least all of those contractors that are now targeted for transition to civil service status – and preferably the entire payroll. Fifth columnists need to be ruthless purged.
Exactly. And if the social-media ranter has a clearance, he/she/whatever has no recourse. (In the world I inhabited; apparently the rules are different at the highest levels.)
Jared, you lucked out. Take the W and call Elon.
So, what does the recovered heat shield look like or is this a national security secret?
Someone here explain to me the different SLS upper stages that sound like successive generations of pneumonia vaccines Walgreens is nagging me to take.
Search engines are your friends. On matters not drenched in significance to the political left, so is Wikipedia.
“This is until such time as there are multiple crewed pathways that allow us to undertake lunar missions with even greater frequency and at lower cost, so that Artemis can live on for decades into the future.”
Love this. Artemis is the program. Landing people on the Moon and other lunar activities are the outcomes. They will get there on several different vehicles. Everything will continue with or without SLS/Orion and likely without it.
Isaaman did a good job in the hearing. He showed he knew more than the representatives, who mostly wanted to rant about climate and jobs for college kids
That’s because Congress is kind of the embodiment of what MAD Magazine used to call “the usual gang of idiots.”
I’ll just repeat here what I said over on the linked post on BtB:
Not only has Isaacman proven more politically adroit than any prior NASA Administrator, he is the only one pursuing what he sees to be the national interest without any compromise based on future career plans. He’s very definitely not going to be a lobbyist when he leaves office and so has no compunctions about ruffling business-as-usual feathers on either side of the aisle.
And, crucially, he is entirely indifferent to Trump’s attempted budget cuts. The Congresscritters want a bigger NASA budget more than he does. That means they have zero leverage in terms of threatening their own budget cuts – the usual method by which Congresscritters attempt to coerce executive branch administrators.
I have no idea to what extent, if any, Trump’s second attempt at significant NASA budget cuts was coordinated with Isaacman, but either way, he is using that proposal to completely eliminate any ground for any nouveau-would-be-Shelby to stand on in attempting to browbeat him into going along with some parochial boondoggle or other.
I think we can say we are witnessing a master class in institutional reform here. May it continue.
Totally agree with that last sentence when I first read it at BtB. Couldn’t agree more.
I honestly haven’t had much hope of institutional reform inside NASA for quite a while, but Isaacman is brilliant. He’s got a shot at it, and here’s hoping he succeeds. I was thrilled when he was finally confirmed as Administrator, but he has exceeded even my high expectations. Who ever guessed he would be as politically savvy as he’s demonstrated he is?
He is great. Who would have guessed? Me 😉
I watched as many interviews of him as I could find after he lost the 1st round and the way he handled the questions about everything is the same temperament, composer, and shrewd thinking he has been displaying since he got the job.
To add to that, he operates with the combination of fair play and guile. Probably comes from his business background and his private air force flying as an aggressor squadron for the military