Posted on 12/19/2025 11:08:03 AM PST by DFG
It’s a race to the moon – again.
Yesterday (18) was a historic day for American space exploration, as the new NASA administrator, the businessman, pilot and astronaut Jared Isaacman, was confirmed by the US Senate, and Donald J. Trump signed an important Executive Order ENSURING AMERICAN SPACE SUPERIORITY.
Isaacman has had an unusual trajectory, having been appointed, discarded in the context of the fight between Donald J. Trump and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, and successfully re-appointed.
CBS News reported:
“The Senate confirmed billionaire Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator on Wednesday in a 67 to 30 vote after he was nominated to run the agency for the second time last month.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has been serving as the interim NASA administrator, congratulated Isaacman on X, wishing the new administrator ‘success as he begins his tenure and leads NASA as we go back to the Moon in 2028 and beat China’.”
“Isaacman, a 42-year-old businessman, made his fortune in online payment processing and has a personal passion for space. He paid SpaceX an undisclosed amount in February 2021 to launch him and three other civilian flyers on a two-day, 23-hour flight — the first purely commercial, all-civilian American “space tourist” mission. He flew again in September 2024 on the first of three planned SpaceX Polaris missions, logging nearly five days in space on a flight. Isaacman also became the first private citizen to carry out a spacewalk.”
The new Trump Executive Order stipulates that manned U.S. mission to the moon will take place in 2028, with a permanent Lunar base to be finished in 2030.
“’America will return to the moon before our great rival [China], and we will establish an enduring presence to understand and realize the scientific, economic and national security value on the lunar surface’, Isaacman said.”
Hm...do not understand the infatuation with the moon or Mars. If you lived either place, you would be bored to death. No oxygen, no trees, no water, no entertainment, no internet, no food, and so forth. I guess you could take some solar panels with you so you could listen to your MP3 files or watch a DVD every once in a while. Other than that, prepared to be BORED.
Huge waste of time and money.
> Huge waste of time and money. <
There might be some value in going to the Moon. New technologies might be developed, etc. But it will all be done with borrowed money, as the US is a debtor nation.
So, yeah. I must reluctantly agree with you.
Agreed. Take that money and save social security.
Being in a hurry is what killed that shuttle crew, iirc.
I’m glad a few others have some sense. Earth orbit great; beyond that a total waste and ego driven.
while I am one of the perhaps-few here who will like to see moon and mars settlements,
it IS more spending when what we need are the promised INCOME TAX CUTS (or ELIMINATION!!!)
remember the campaign promises to cut taxes?
all we’ve seen so far are a couple little adjustments primarily for those that pay almost no income tax anyway...and only temporary too
will the bloodsucking politicians ever give up their stealing from the citizenry?
one doesn’t need much cynicism to know the answer to that one
sad to say
Having a sense of urgency is what got Niel Armstrong et al. on the Moon.
A bureaucratic case of gotta-get-there-itis killed the Challenger crew.
A horrible kludge of a Space Transport System killed the Columbia crew.
Urgency is good. Sloppy design and bureaucratic stupidity are bad.
A “permanent Lunar base” by 2030 is not realistic. There are greater priorities closer to home right now.
“Take that money and save social security.”
It probably wouldn’t need saving if they eliminated the millions of illegals drawing a free ride. That said, I think going to the moon is pointless.l and expensive.
Moonrise by 2030.
That would be a great present for my 100th birthday.
Space exploration is obviously expensive. But what if it were profitable instead? Robots have been very successful exploring the Solar System. Imagine robots making things and selling it on Earth. Automation is almost at the point where this is possible. Claiming important sites like the craters on the Moon that have ice on the bottom is a wise investment
Gosh, and here I thought the idea was to trim government waste.
I agree. What’s the point? Until we figure out how to travel at least 1/4 the speed of light there is nothing to learn that a probe can’t tell us. At current speeds anything past the moon is a suicide mission.
But what about the moon babes? Every 1950s sci-fi movie had them.
“Hm...do not understand the infatuation with the moon or Mars.”
I asked chat gpt if it’s a security issue:
Me: Is a base on the Moon a present and/or future security/defense need for the USA and other countries?
Ans: Direct Answer: A permanent military base on the Moon is not currently a present security necessity, but it is increasingly viewed as a future strategic defense need by the USA and other countries. The Moon’s location, resources, and vantage point make it a potential military and geopolitical asset, though international treaties complicate overt militarization.
🌑 Why the Moon Matters for Security
Strategic vantage point: The Moon offers line-of-sight coverage of Earth and deep space, enabling surveillance, communications, and missile-tracking systems.
Resource control: Access to lunar water ice and rare minerals could secure supply chains for space-based operations.
Geopolitical competition: The U.S., China, and Russia view lunar presence as a way to project power and secure dominance in space.
Military research: Programs like DARPA’s NOM4D explore lunar-based manufacturing for large orbital defense structures.
Sorry but returning to the moon and building a lunar base in 5 years is NUTS.
“Sorry but returning to the moon and building a lunar base in 5 years is NUTS.”
Correct my friend, but that’s OK. Achieving a presence there as fast as possible and before anyone else, that’s the Golden Fleece.
Side thought, there’s a weird thing I have experienced with goal setting. Example: Let’s say I have a project and I’ve ‘got’ to get a quality outcome in all areas. If analyzing tells it me I need 30 days but speed is a plus in the equation, I’ll make the goal 26. The rate of success is surprising.
We haven’t been back to the moon for 50 years. A little urgency might be in order.
My personal belief is that the country that masters space navigation and technology is the country that owns the future. They are the ones our grandkids will be working for.
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