Former NASA Astronauts Endorse Jared Isaacman

A group of 28 former astronauts have gathered to endorse Jared Isaacman for his appointment as NASA Administrator, and to call for the senate to complete reviewing him for the position as soon as possible.  

“We believe that Jared Isaacman is uniquely qualified to lead NASA at this critical juncture. As an entrepreneur, pilot, and having commanded two groundbreaking space missions, he brings credibility and capability to make a difference now,” states the letter, signed by 28 former NASA astronauts and posted to social media March 21 by one of them, Garrett Reisman.

Garret  Reisman's letter is in a post to BlueSky you can read here.  

Earlier this week I was wondering about when Isaacman's confirmation hearings were going to be held.  The last things I heard were that it was looking to be the end of February after the bigger names, more controversial people who were going to be first; RFK Jr., Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem and others that are looked at more politically.  The last time I posted anything about his nomination was mid-February.  

President Trump announced his decision to nominate Isaacman in early December, but the nature of this process is that pretty much nothing happens until after inauguration.  And then some more time.

His nomination is under the jurisdiction of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has yet to schedule a hearing to consider the nomination. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the committee, said in February that the committee was “still waiting for the paperwork to be completed” before scheduling a hearing.

Of the 28 astronauts who signed the letter, I recognized a few of the names and they seemed to largely be Shuttle-era astronauts along with some from the space station era, with an interesting exception: Rusty Schweickart, who flew on Apollo 9 in 1969.  Wikipedia says Rusty was born in 1935, so he'll turn 90 this October.

SpaceNews adds:

Other notable signatories include Bob Cabana, who after his astronaut career was director of the Kennedy Space Center and NASA associate administrator; Bill Readdy, who became associate administrator for space operations; and John Grunsfeld, a veteran of several Hubble repair missions who later served as associate administrator for science and, during the 2024 election, backed a group called “Space Cadets 4 Harris” that supported Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

They also note that former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine endorsed Isaacman at the Satellite 2025 conference held March 11.  

Bridenstine responded by heaping praise on Isaacman. “I think Jared Isaacman is going to be an amazing NASA administrator,” he said. “I think he’s got all the tools to be what could be the most consequential NASA administrator given the era in which we live in now.”

Jared Isaacman, who goes by the name "Rook" in every other reference to him on this blog, commanded two SpaceX private astronaut missions, Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn in September.  You can see his shirt is embroidered "Rook Isaacman" on his right in this picture.  Credit: Polaris Program