Trump's NASA pick: Jared Isaacman

The US space agency NASA has been in a state of flux for a number of years, and it now has to compete with a number of private companies who are seeking to challenge its dominance. It also now has a new boss, because, traditionally, the director is replaced by an incoming president. And Donald Trump’s pick for NASA chief, Jared Isaacman, has raised a few eyebrows. Isaacman doesn’t have any NASA experience. But, he has got lots of money, he has worked with some of the major new players in the US space industry, and he has been into space. I asked Richard Hollingham from the Space Boffins Podcast to tell us more about him…

Richard - Oh, he's fascinating. Well, he's another tech billionaire and he was born in 1983. He created his first tech company at 15. It's a payment processing company. He then branched out into a defence company that trains US Air Force pilots. He's got a passion for flying. He's got a passion for spaceflight. He led the first private space mission. He took part in the first private spacewalk. In fact, as an astronaut, he has gone higher - or that crew went higher - than any astronaut since the Apollo missions of 1972. So as an astronaut and as an astronaut pioneer, he has certainly got the right stuff, if you like, for doing that. It does sound uniquely well qualified, actually, for this job.

Well, he's probably uniquely well qualified to push forward astronauts, human space flight missions to the moon, missions to Mars. But NASA is so much more than that because, of course, it does exploration missions like the amazing James Webb Space Telescope that's giving us these just stunning images of the most distant galaxies and also our own planets. It also has a lot of Earth observation missions.

So giving us that sort of eye on the planet and what's going on. So NASA is lots more than that. It also has a whole flight division where they're looking into innovations in flight. So, for example, NASA developed fly-by-wire technology, which is in every aircraft. So, NASA is a lot bigger than just sending astronauts to the moon and Mars.

Chris - But he is a pilot, isn't he?

Richard - Absolutely.

Chris - I mean, he flies stunts at air shows and things. He flies jets.

Richard - And it's not a surprise that he's been nominated to become the new head of NASA by Donald Trump. I was listening to his inauguration speech and I said, "What?" He just mentioned Mars. I had to spool back and hear that again. Donald Trump said: "we will put an American on Mars."

That is not the current NASA plan. The current NASA plan is to return humans to the moon and have the first woman on the moon. Straight away there, you've got something very different in the offing.

Chris - He also said, that's Donald Trump, he said: "Jared will drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology and exploration." I mean, that does sound on message. So what are the people who are objecting to this saying then? What's the controversy?

Richard - Very few people have actually said that he's the wrong person, because you could argue that the former head of NASA, Bill Nelson, is almost the equivalent of a private astronaut. So Bill Nelson had flown in the space shuttle, but as a congressman, as a politician on the space shuttle. And I can't tell you, I can't really share with you what some of his crew members said about him at the time, but the shuttle crews very much considered these politicians in space as self-loading cargo, if you like, on these missions. It's always a political appointment, the head of NASA.

Chris - So, do you think then that because he's run very successful companies and is a tech billionaire, but doesn't necessarily have yet the political experience, that that might be something that people are saying is a weakness, because he's got to go and deal with politicians?

Richard - Yeah. So you've got these, the billionaires, or the millionaires, if you like, you've got Donald Trump talking about going to Mars, you've got Elon Musk, developing these incredible, spacecraft and Starship, which is the one that's currently in development, that he wants to take people to Mars. You've got Isaacman, you've also got, don't forget, Jeff Bezos, who has developed the New Glenn rocket as well, which is going to give Musk and SpaceX a run for their money.

And then you’ve got in the other corner, the NASA way of doing things, which takes a lot longer, but also involves a lot of people, and a lot of people who are often in Republican areas. So, you know, particularly with the current plan to send people to the moon is to use a brand new rocket called the SLS, Space Launch System. A giant rocket, looks very much like a sort of mashup between the Apollo, Saturn V rocket and the Space Shuttle. So, it's a big rocket, a big tube with two solid boosters on the side. This has been developed in Huntsville, Alabama, Republican territory. So you've got that.

So, if you start taking that away, if you start saying, well, the SLS isn't really going to do it, let's use Starship instead, which would make a lot of sense, there is going to be a political backlash to that. So, it's got to be handled carefully, but the SLS, it just looks so old fashioned compared to what Elon Musk is developing and what Jeff Bezos is developing, that inevitably, even if they fly the ones they've built, they probably won't build any more. So, that's the old way of doing it. And now you've got the new way of doing it, which Jared Isaacman very much represents.