Trump picks Musk ally Jared Isaacman to head NASA

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, selecting a billionaire private astronaut and business associate of Elon Musk to oversee an agency closely linked to the SpaceX founder's business.

Being a billionaire and head of a payment processing company qualifies you for head of NASA?

No more engineers, scientists and test pilots?

I suppose it is like Musk who cosplays as genius inventor Tony Stark when all he did was acquire companies others created and founded and. appropriated tech.

“billionaire private astronaut.” Seems qualified to me.

Paid to hitch a ride on Musk's rocket. Great discernment there.

Isaacman, CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, has flown to space twice on SpaceX capsules in fully private missions arranged by his Polaris program, working with Musk and spending hundreds of millions of dollars as a key customer of SpaceX's nascent private astronaut business.

Didn't know the primary need of NASA's mission of space exploration was automation of overdue notices and late fees.

MAGA oligarchs are designing the most boring future imaginable.

Perhaps he and Trump will finally be able to kill off the SLS program. Chemical rockets don't need any fundamental breakthroughs anymore. That's solved and NASA needs to get back to basic research, not running a life company for payloads.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/former-nasa-official-on-trying-to-stop-sls-there-was-just-such-visible-hostility/

This guy is like how the US Navy mandates that all aircraft carrier captains are former Naval Aviators. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to lead NASA. You need to be good at understanding engineers and making cost-effective decisions for the entire organization.

I'm not a fan of Musk, but he does have the most cost effective and safest way to get to orbit today. The others companies all lack that and the SLS is a "launch every 5 yrs" rocket that gets thrown away. That is not cost effective and America would be better served by less expensive launches. Boeing is in the dog house. They don't know how to make low-cost rockets. All the others are for tiny payloads, nothing useful for manned missions anywhere.

Being a billionaire and head of a payment processing company qualifies you for head of NASA?

maybe so?

but all his other background you disingenuously left out or are uninformed about does.

Good idea, get the bumbling Govt. out of the way so the private sector can innovate and lead the way!

Hopefully these nincompoops can keep their hands off while serious people are doing their work.

The appropriately named Don is creating a Mafia-style organisation comprised of his family and rich friends to run the country. Capo dei capi.

If I was an American living the USA I would be more than a little concerned about unqualified people being awarded such senior positions.

Being a billionaire and head of a payment processing company qualifies you for head of NASA?

No more engineers, scientists and test pilots?

I suppose it is like Musk who cosplays as genius inventor Tony Stark when all he did was acquire companies others created and founded and. appropriated tech

Not sure why the mods don’t like opposing point of view questions, but what’s wrong with being an Astronaut and a billionaire? The guy has a strong resume. Not sure what Tony Stark has to do with this pick, but he seems fine for the job. But I’m just happy the left can’t call or say jack on these picks like before.

Hopefully these nincompoops can keep their hands off while serious people are doing their work.

Who do you consider serious?

The appropriately named Don is creating a Mafia-style organisation comprised of his family and rich friends to run the country. Capo dei capi. 

Well, when you are the President or a leader of any nation, you want the people you can trust and have your back, every President had that, every single one of them, but for some odd reason, liberals think Trump shouldn’t pick people that are loyal to him or that he can’t trust.

If I was an American living the USA I would be more than a little concerned about unqualified people being awarded such senior positions.

And that is the reason why he’s not making the same mistake he did back in 2016 to your point.

liberals think Trump shouldn’t pick people that are loyal to him or that he can’t trust.

Just for the record, I am not a "liberal". Indeed if I were American I would be a Republican but not a Trump supporting MAGA cultist.

Just for the record, I am not a "liberal". Indeed if I were American I would be a Republican but not a Trump supporting MAGA cultist.

You don’t have to like Trump, but MAGA will be here long after Trump’s gone, he already laid the foundation for the next generation of people that will take the party forward. The old establishment GOP is gone and that’s a good thing. It lost its luster and purpose and now is a relic and a former shadow of itself.

Just for the record, I am not a "liberal". Indeed if I were American I would be a Republican but not a Trump supporting MAGA cultist.

Naaaa. That’s only the corporate media sensationalist clips. By far, the majority who support Trump are just honest working folks, not what the slimy media show us or what makes the top TikTok or YouTube clips.

The appropriately named Don is creating a Mafia-style organisation comprised of his family and rich friends to run the country

wow, I thought you were the reasonable type until I read your above post. So Jared Isaacman is some type of mafia gang member to you? Or is it you just don’t like accomplished people with guts?

bass4funkToday 01:13 pm JST

Hopefully these nincompoops can keep their hands off while serious people are doing their work.

Who do you consider serious?

People who do science and engineering for a living. Not people who sell stuff.

People who do science and engineering for a living. Not people who sell stuff.

He’s an Astronaut, therefore that qualifies him as a pilot, and scientist. Not see what the problem here is.

theFuToday 10:13 am JST

Perhaps he and Trump will finally be able to kill off the SLS program. Chemical rockets don't need any fundamental breakthroughs anymore. That's solved and NASA needs to get back to basic research, not running a life company for payloads.

Beating the Chinese back to the moon is still important.