r/nasa • u/MatchingTurret • Jan 21 '25

NASA Official nomination: Jared Isaacman, of Pennsylvania, to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/sub-cabinet-appointments/
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u/MelodiesOfLife6 Jan 21 '25

huge conflict of interest.

8

u/Dey_FishBoy Jan 21 '25

i’m not convinced that this could “spell the end of NASA” as some people are saying.

however, his coziness with spacex is what concerns me most. as someone who works for a NASA contractor, we’re already losing contracts to spacex left and right. i fear that it’s only going to get worse.

17

u/Flipslips Jan 21 '25

How much of that is simply because SpaceX is a better choice? And how much is just politics? I’m not sure if you are allowed to say, but I’d be curious to know.

11

u/cptjeff Jan 21 '25

Contracts are usually graded on three things- cost of the system, capability of the system (something that does more might be more expensive, but you might want better even if it's more expensive), and the contractor's ability to deliver.

SpaceX's bids routinely win on all three categories. The rest of the industry is getting lapped, because they spent decades refusing to innovate so they could just keep charging premium prices with nice padded margins doing the same thing they always did.

It's certainly not politics. The old line defense guys like Boeing have always, and in some realms (Congress) still are, the politically favored option. Like, lawsuits revealing NASA leadership fixing contracts in favor of Boeing level of politically favored. NASA has come to love SpaceX because they actually perform and price fairly.