Free Republic

NASA chief Jared Isaacman wants to restore Pluto to its former glory. In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) stripped Pluto of its planethood, reclassifying the icy world as a "dwarf planet." The decision was controversial, and not just because it forced schoolchildren around the world to learn a new mnemonic for our solar system's major denizens. Little Pluto was beloved and remains so, especially in the United States. After all, it's the only planet discovered by an American, Clyde Tombaugh, who made the historic find in 1930 using imagery captured by Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Twenty years on, many...

NASA is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in ‌lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct a $20 billion base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, its new chief Jared Isaacman ​said on Tuesday. Isaacman, who was sworn in at the agency ​in December, made the announcement at the opening of a ⁠day-long event at NASA’s Washington headquarters at which he outlined a ​raft of changes he is making to the agency’s flagship moon program ​Artemis. “It should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing...

Billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday lashed out at a key aide to President Donald Trump who was rumored to have played a role in contributing to the feud that broke out between the CEO and the president. Musk responded to a report by the New York Post that said Sergio Gor, who serves as the director of presidential personnel at the White House, has not yet submitted the paperwork required for him to obtain a permanent security clearance. "He's a snake," Musk wrote in a post on X responding to the story. The public feud between Musk and Trump began...

Just days before his expected Senate confirmation, billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman—closely aligned with Elon Musk’s SpaceX—has been withdrawn as President Donald Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator. The announcement came on the same day Musk stepped down from the government’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and follows renewed scrutiny of Isaacman’s past political donations to Democratic candidates. A new nominee for NASA administrator will be announced soon, according to Trump, who said he will prioritize someone who is “mission aligned” and can put America “first in space.”