Jared Isaacman has now proven he was
the wrong man for NASA administrator

In an op-ed posted today by Jared Isaacman and Newt Gingrich, the two men pushed the idea that NASA should lead a new “mini-Manhattan Project” to develop “nuclear-electric-powered spaceships” in order to conquer the heavens.

The President’s budget calls for an eventual pivot away from NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS)—leaving the heavy-lift rocket business to a capable commercial industry. That pivot should be toward something no other agency, organization, or company is capable of accomplishing: building a fleet of nuclear-electric-powered spaceships and extending America’s reach in the ultimate high ground of space.

The NASA centers, workforce, and contractors that manage, assemble, and test SLS are suited to take on this inspiring and necessary challenge. NASA Center at Michoud, for example, built landing craft during WWII, the Saturn V during the space race, the Space Shuttle, and the SLS. It is now waiting for the next logical evolution to ensure the competitiveness of our national space capabilities.

Oy. What piffle. First of all, except for SLS, all the NASA achievements listed above are from almost a half century ago. No one at NASA today built WWII landing craft, the Saturn-5, or the Space Shuttle. And claiming that the more recent SLS is an accomplishment to be proud of is like saying my zits make me handsome.

Second, it has become patently obvious in the last three decades that NASA can’t build anything at all. It acts as a jobs program, funneling cash to big contractors while siphoning a large percentage (generally around 50%) to maintain NASA’s large and generally unproductive staffs and centers.

For Isaacman to advocate this big government project — run by NASA — proves Trump was right to dump him as NASA administrator. As much as he is a businessman and an entrepreneur worth billions, he proves with this op-ed that he is still wedded to the idea of big budget, big government-run programs. Both he and Gingrich seem completely unaware of the government’s endless failures, not just at NASA but across the board.

Had Isaacman become NASA administrator I now firmly believe he would have not made the right decisions. Instead of fostering a private industry capable of doing anything it wanted to do, he would have worked to empower the agency and weaken private enterprise.

It does appear the American space industry dodged a bullet here. Thank you President Trump.