US senators told President-elect Donald Trump's NASA chief on Wednesday that the agency must beat China to return to the moon. The Uncertain Future of Science space agency on alertmeanwhile faded into the background during confirmation hearings Jared Isaacman.
NASA is at an “inflection point,” said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which held the hearing. “The agency must set priorities if we want to push China back to the Moon and then to Mars.”
Reappointed by Trump in NovemberIsaacman, 42 years old, twice flew into space through SpaceX, including the 2024 mission in which he participated first ever commercial spacewalk. The billionaire entrepreneur's preliminary plan for “Project Athena” for NASA. November leakcalled for smaller but more numerous science missions, a reorganization of the agency's research centers, and increased use of nuclear-electric rockets for future human journeys to Mars.
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“There is no question that the overwhelming priority for the near term is returning American astronauts to the Moon,” Isaacman said at the hearing, expressing support for both the proposed Lunar Gateway space station and the next four manned missions planned by NASA. Artemis lunar landing program. This is despite calls in the Trump administration's proposed 2026 federal budget to cancel Gateway and end NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket that would enable those missions. (Isaacman's “Project Athena” document also reportedly proposed canceling SLS, which cost a whopping $2 billion per launch.)
Isaacman also supported the renewal of the competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin for 2028. Artemis III The moon landing was a mission designed to return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972. Former space agency employees have expressed serious doubts that NASA will be able to meet the deadline. If the schedule is disrupted, so too could NASA's chances of winning the New Moon race with China; Beijing is targeting 2030 for its own manned moon landing.
Ahead of the hearing, 36 former NASA astronauts, including former NASA chief Charles Bolden Jr. leadnomination, stating that “he will bring new energy and commitment to NASA.”
“NASA needs a leader,” says Syracuse University political scientist W. Henry Lambright, a researcher history of the space agency. “He comes across as technically strong. I don't know if he's politically astute.” Isaacman's proposed philosophy “speed up/fix/delete” Lambright adds that streamlining NASA's programs echoes NASA chief Dan Goldin's 1990s ethos of “faster, better, cheaper.” This era is over costly losses of several Mars probes.
However, Isaacman faces restrictions from the Trump administration's powerful Office of Management and Budget, which intends to reduction in federal spending on scienceand “an unpredictable president,” Lambright says. “He needs Congress to be on his side. In that regard, the themes of 'acceleration' and 'correction' make sense.”
Isaacman told senators Wednesday that the U.S. failure to beat China to the moon would undermine “American exceptionalism,” but it would also have more specific geopolitical consequences. According to him, the Moon offers resources such as potential helium-3 deposits, which could one day serve thermonuclear fuel and “could change the balance of power” on Earth in the next century.
Despite the generally friendly tone of the hearing, Isaacman still had to face some tough questions about his support for NASA's climate science and agricultural data missions, which Project Athena The plan reportedly proposed outsourcing to academia. “We only inhabit one planet, and Earth science is very important,” Isaacman responded. He also approved NASA funding for young scientists and university research, two areas where the Trump administration has targeted deep cuts.
Some of the most pressing questions asked by Isaacman concerned proposed almost 50 percent transition to science at NASA (rejected by Congress in budget decisions) and his relationship with Elon Musk, whose SpaceX rockets sent Isaacman into space on two private missions. “I more than admit that I went to space twice with SpaceX,” Isaacman said, downplaying his connection to Musk, adding that he has not spoken to the tech billionaire about working at NASA since Isaacman was re-nominated for the job. Isaacman also declined to disclose how much his private space missions cost except that SpaceX “didn't give me a discount.”
Isaacman said at the start of the hearing that he had no intention of “closing the centers” of NASA. The space agency currently operates 10 such research centers across the country, and some NASA missions involve multiple organizations; The Project Athena document reportedly proposed privatizing some of this work, as well as consolidating the initiatives of some agencies into single space centers. That could lead to less federal money flowing to some of NASA's most scientifically valuable and productive units, such as the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, both of which have suffered. extensive layoffs And other failures linked to the White House agenda.
Fate of the spaceship Opening, Now housed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, it was not mentioned at the hearing because the One Big Beautiful Bill was passed this summer, spending $85 million to move the orbiter to the exhibit site in Houston. Senator Cruz is one of the main architects of what some critics are calling a “heist” of the venerable shuttle, which some experts fear could suffer irreparable damage in the proposed move. Cruz's Texas colleague, Sen. John Cornyn, said in a press release before the hearing that Isaacman approved this step.
“These hearings generally met my expectations,” says space policy expert Casey Dreyer of the Planetary Society. Despite some difficult issues, Isaacman emphasized his commitment to NASA science and other popular programs, Dreyer said. “He is in a difficult position because he has to avoid openly criticizing the proposed budget, which is the official position of the administration, which he hopes to join, but which he had no role in preparing,” Dreyer adds.
However, Isaacman appears to be on track for confirmation, given that Cruz's committee has already lined up a vote on him next Monday. With the U.S. Senate quickly running out of business before the Christmas holiday, Dreyer says, “the challenge will be whether they can vote on his nomination before the new year.”
Editor's Note (12/3/25): This article was edited after publication to correct accurate descriptions of Jared Isaacman's comments during the hearing.
