Trump has renominated Jared Isaacman.
This is good news if he doesn’t change his mind again.
Category Archives: Space
Orion
I’m not sure — he’s sometimes subtle — but one gets the impression that he doesn’t like it.
Elon Strikes Back
It will be quite amusing if Duffy has goaded him into beating SLS/Orion to the Moon.
I’m glad that he’s realized it was politically stupid to say that the Moon “is a distraction.”
[Update a while later]
HLS interior. A true spaceship. But here's my mindblowing take. This is by far the worst Starship interior we will ever see. I think this is a very bare bones cladding that will be blown out of the water by their LETS lander, and standard crew variant.
— Ken Kirtland IV (@KenKirtland17) October 30, 2025
🧵 pic.twitter.com/JEf9xGw03m
Bloggus Interruptus
For those wondering, we’re on an actual vacation, and not just on a pleasure trip combined with business, for the first time in a long time. We flew to Cancun yesterday, and are ensconced in a resort between there and Playa del Carmen. Keeping an eye on the hurricane, but the current projected tracks show it heading north, not west, after it beats the hell out of Jamaica and Cuba. We’re here all week, and I may find some time to keep up with events and blog, but we plan to see some Mayan temples and do some diving. Next Friday we head to Orlando, and then I’ll be at space conferences next week at the University of Central Florida.
Anyway disport yourself gently in comments on topics general.
It Begins
Duffy wants to recompete HLS.
[Wednesday-morning update]
One of the reasons that we have made so little progress in space for the past half century is that Congress decided that NASA had to have its own space transportation, regardless of how terrible it is at it.
— Rand Simberg (@Simberg_Space) October 21, 2025
Delete unnecessary parts and processes ==> If Starship can land 100 T of stuff on the Moon, or fly >10 T to and from the Moon from LEO without refueling, all other parts of the NASA so-called "architecture" are unnecessary, regardless of how many tens of billions of dollars have… https://t.co/Gna5xuX9GO
— Casey Handmer (@CJHandmer) October 21, 2025
There have been many dud NASA administrators, some of which looked good on paper (e.g., Dick Truly). Webb was a lawyer, but even he had experience in the aviation industry. What are Duffy's qualifications? You need to at least know which end the fire comes out of.
— Rand Simberg (@Simberg_Space) October 22, 2025
[Early-afternoon update]
Bob Zimmerman is not impressed.
Cutting The Gordian Knot
Lockmart is starting to look to reusability and other launch vehicles than SLS for Orion.
NASA may want to have it for its precious astronauts, but at some point it will be embarrassing when Starship is putting up dozens of people at a fraction of the cost.
The Final Version 2 Test
Looked like it did everything they wanted it to do. Feel free to discuss.
[Tuesday-morning update]
Bob Zimmerman has the story.
Back In Good Graces?
Will Trump renominate Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator?
Dream Chaser
RIP?
I spent years tiling this ship. Drilling composites and making every detail perfect. Management was a disaster and even tried to convince us they were on par with SpaceX. Now that I work on starship comments like that sound even more childish than before. Rip chaser. Never to be. https://t.co/4Lk7ta8L8f
— ajaxthegreat (@AlexanderJ91756) September 26, 2025
“Is This A Hobby, Or A Business?”
That’s a question that I’ve been asking about Blue Origin for over two decades. I hope they’ve finally decided it’s the latter.