Latest news with #ScienceandTransportationCommittee
United News of India
3 days ago
- Business
- United News of India
Trump to announce new nominee to lead NASA
Washington, June 1 (UNI) U.S. President Donald Trump will soon announce a new nominee for the head of NASA, following his decision to withdraw former candidate Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk, an official said. "After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA," Trump wrote on his Truth Social site. "I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space." Late last year, Trump named Isaacman, a billionaire and private astronaut, as the nominee for NASA chief. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved his nomination in late April. Isaacman, a close associate of Musk and a major client of his company SpaceX, has purchased several private spaceflights from the company with hundreds of millions of dollars. UNI XC GNK
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Trump drops nomination of Musk ally Jared Isaacman as Nasa administrator
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved Isaacman's nomination in late April, and a vote by the full Senate was expected soon AP Washington President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he is withdrawing the nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, an associate of Trump adviser Elon Musk, to lead Nasa, saying he reached the decision after a "thorough review" of Isaacman's "prior associations." It was unclear what Trump meant, and the White House did not immediately respond to an emailed request for an explanation. "After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head Nasa," Trump wrote on his social media site. "I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be Mission aligned and put America First in Space." Trump announced in December during the presidential transition that he had chosen Isaacman to be the space agency's next administrator. Isaacman, 42, has been a close collaborator with Musk ever since buying his first chartered flight on Musk's SpaceX company in 2021. He is the CEO and founder of Shift4, a credit card processing company. He also bought a series of spaceflights from SpaceX and conducted the first private spacewalk. SpaceX has extensive contracts with Nasa. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved Isaacman's nomination in late April, and a vote by the full Senate was expected soon. Musk appeared to lament Trump's decision after the news broke earlier Saturday, posting on the X site that "It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted." SpaceX is owned by Musk, a Trump campaign contributor and adviser who announced this week that he is leaving the government after several months at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Trump created the agency to slash the size of government and put Musk in charge. Semafor was the first to report that the White House had decided to pull Isaacman's nomination.
Japan Times
13-04-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
NASA nominee should resist Musk's pull toward Mars
During a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Jared Isaacman, the nominee for NASA administrator, was — in a twist on the Will Smith '90s tune — gettin' squishy wit it. Isaacman danced uncomfortably around pointed questions about whether he would stick to the space agency's plan to first establish a permanent presence on the moon with the continuing Artemis program or prioritize the big challenge of sending a human to Mars, as his close associate Elon Musk would prefer. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which oversees NASA — who is also a resident of Houston, where NASA has large operations — was able to pry from Isaacman that he would pursue both goals simultaneously. This was after the nominee raised some alarm in his opening remarks by saying that sending U.S. astronauts to Mars was a priority "and along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the moon.' Isaacman needs to keep his eye on the moon and resist Musk's gravitational pull toward the red planet. Under Cruz's cross-examination, Isaacman said he would follow the law to carry out NASA's moon mission, which calls for a sustained presence in lunar space or on the lunar surface but indicated that a permanent base would depend on what the moon has to offer. "We have to get back to the moon first as quickly as we possibly can. Figure out, again, the scientific, economic, national security value to being there, which I am very hopeful that we are going to find in order to support the ongoing presence on the lunar surface,' Isaacman said under pressure from Cruz's questions. Lawmakers are wary that Isaacman will be swayed by U.S. President Donald Trump and Musk to steer more of NASA's $25 billion budget to the Mars mission instead of the moon, which has water, minerals and potentially useful gases such as Helium 3. The commercial and even tourism potential of the moon, though, pales in comparison to its national security value. It would be foolish to cede the moon to China, which is determined to catch and surpass the U.S. on space capabilities. Space is the ultimate high ground, as defense experts like to point out. Weapons will inevitably be positioned in space (if they're not there already). The number of military and commercial satellites is exploding as modern society becomes more and more dependent on them for communication and guidance. The most logical reason to establish first a base on the moon is that it's much closer to Earth — a trip there takes three days compared with about six months to get to Mars. That makes it much easier to shuttle people and supplies and safer to work out the kinks of an extraterrestrial land base. The race to build a moon base is under way and the U.S., along with its allies, need to get there first to establish the rules of this new frontier. This isn't the view of Musk, who has called the moon a distraction to the big prize of landing humans on Mars. Musk's dream is to establish a colony on the red planet and make mankind a multiplanetary species. After watching Musk build SpaceX from an improbable startup to an industry leading space pioneer, it wouldn't be smart to bet against him, but NASA can't let Musk's obsession distract it from its more important goal. Isaacman shares Musk's entrepreneurial spirit and boundless energy. He founded a payment-processing company when he was 16 in the basement of his parent's house and leveraged his passion for flying to co-found a company that helps train military pilots. He has been in Musk's orbit for a while: He was commander of the first all-commercial flight into space aboard a SpaceX capsule in 2021. In September, he and fellow crewmates flew the farthest into space since the moon landings in the 1970s and performed a spacewalk to test SpaceX's new spacesuits. Isaacman's verbal rope-a-dope before committee members on Wednesday included sidestepping several questions from Sen. Ed Markey about whether Musk was in the room at Mar-a-Lago when Trump offered Isaacman the top NASA job. The question may seem trivial, but it's a gauge of Musk's influence over Trump on space strategy. There's only so much NASA budget to work with. It's important to keep the priorities straight: Moon first, then on to Mars and beyond. Thomas Black is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the industrial and transportation sectors.
Buzz Feed
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Buzz Feed
Well, It Looks Like We Know What Donald Trump Will Do About Daylight Saving Time Now
Daylight saving time is one of the most divisive issues in American society. In the past, Donald Trump spoke about the possibility of ending daylight saving time altogether. But back in March, it seemed like he wasn't a big fan of ending it anymore. President Trump on getting rid of Daylight Savings Time: — Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) March 6, 2025 MargoMartin47/ Twitter: @MargoMartin47 "This one should be the easiest one of all," he said. "It's a 50/50 issue, and if something is a 50/50 issue, it's hard to get excited about it. I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people would like to have more light earlier because they don't want to take their kids to school in the dark." "It's a little bit one way, but it's very much a 50/50 issue," he continued. "It's something I can do, but a lot of people like it one way. A lot of people like it the other way. It's very even. And usually, I find when that's the case, what else do we have to do?" MargoMartin47/ Twitter: @MargoMartin47 Judging from that answer, it seemed like he wasn't going to chime in on this again! Case closed. Well, on Thursday, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing discussing daylight saving time versus standard time, and today Donald Trump has firmly confirmed which side he is on. CSPAN/ He wants to end it. Sooo, yeah, it seems like he has made up his mind. Where do you stand on it?
Bloomberg
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
NASA Nominee Should Resist Musk's Pull Toward Mars
During a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Jared Isaacman, the nominee for NASA administrator, was — in a twist on the Will Smith '90s tune — gettin' squishy wit it. Isaacman danced uncomfortably around pointed questions about whether he would stick to the space agency's plan to first establish a permanent presence on the moon with the continuing Artemis program or prioritize the big challenge of sending a human to Mars, as his close associate Elon Musk would prefer. Senator Ted Cruz, the Republican chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, which oversees NASA — who is also a resident of Houston, where NASA has large operations — was able to pry from Isaacman that he would pursue both goals simultaneously. This was after the nominee raised some alarm in his opening remarks by saying that sending US astronauts to Mars was a priority 'and along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the moon.' Isaacman needs to keep his eye on the moon and resist Musk's gravitational pull toward the red planet. Under Cruz's cross-examination, Isaacman said he would follow the law to carry out NASA's moon mission, which calls for a sustained presence in lunar space or on the lunar surface but indicated that a permanent base would depend on what the moon has to offer.
