Billionaire spacewalker highlights Mars trip in his bid to become NASA’s next chief

By MARCIA DUNN | Associated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The nominee for NASA’s top job, billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman, outlined his vision for space exploration on Wednesday that prioritizes sending astronauts to Mars without giving up on the moon.

President Donald Trump nominated Isaacman to become NASA’s 15th administrator late last year. If confirmed, the tech entrepreneur would become the youngest person to lead the space agency that is eyeing returning astronauts to the moon and among only a handful of administrators to have actually rocketed into orbit.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee gathered in Washington for the nomination hearing. Besides Isaacman, nine other experienced space travelers were in the audience, including NASA’s next moon crew.

“As the president stated, we will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars and, along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the moon,” Isaacman said in his opening remarks.

He later assured the senators that he would not give up on the moon and wants the U.S. to beat China in landing astronauts there.

“I didn’t say we shouldn’t go to the moon,” he said. “What’s taking so long to get back to the moon and why does it cost so much money? I absolutely want to see us return to the moon.”

Moon and Mars expeditions can be developed in parallel. “I don’t think these are either-or,” he added. NASA can afford both under current funding, he said, without elaborating.

Isaacman, 42, has already flown in space twice, buying his own trips with SpaceX, and performed the world’s first private spacewalk last September. An experienced jet pilot, he made his fortune with a payment processing company, now called Shift4, that he started as a high school dropout in his parents’ basement.

He acknowledged in his testimony that he is not “a typical nominee for this position.”

“I have been relatively apolitical; I am not a scientist and I never worked at NASA,” he said. “I do not think these are weaknesses.”

The space agency and others were anxious to hear Isaacman’s stand on the moon and Mars for human exploration, given his close association with SpaceX’s Elon Musk.

In the audience were the three U.S. astronauts and one Canadian assigned to NASA’s flight to the moon planned for next year, as well as all six people who launched into orbit with Isaacman.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the committee’s chairman, urged the need to “stay the course” with NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon.

“An extreme shift in priorities at this stage would almost certainly mean a red moon, ceding ground to China for generations to come,” Cruz said.

NASA has been pitching the moon as the next logical step for astronauts for years. The Artemis program aims to send a crew around the moon next year and land astronauts near the moon’s south pole as early as 2027. Lunar bases are planned this time around, not just quick visits like the ones during NASA’s Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Artemis has been slow going and expensive, especially for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. It’s only blasted off once so far — in 2022 without a crew.

Musk favors Mars as a destination, as he ramps up more test flights out of Texas for Starship, the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket. By making Starship reusable, he intends to dramatically lower costs of getting people and equipment to the red planet.

NASA has chosen Starship for its first two astronaut landings on the moon under Artemis, named after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology.

When asked if Musk has contacted him since his nomination about how to manage NASA, Isaacman replied, “not at all.” Isaacman then was questioned how he would protect against undue influence from Musk, given SpaceX’s billions of dollars’ worth of contracts with NASA.

“I absolutely want to be clear,” Isaacman said. “My loyalty is to this nation, the space agency and their world-changing mission.”

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