"The senator wanted a promise. A solemn vow. For the last six years-or maybe the last decade or quarter century, depending on how you count it-the United States and China had been locked in a space race, a contest to see which nation could put its people on the moon. Senator Ted Cruz wanted President Donald Trump's nominee to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, to pledge that the US would not lose."
"Cruz brought a little surprise to Isaacman's confirmation hearing last April. It was a poster of the moon. On one side stood three astronauts and a giant Chinese flag. On the other were two more figures in space suits, with the tiniest Stars and Stripes planted in the lunar soil. Cruz apologized for the imbalance. "My team used ChatGPT," explained the senator, who chairs the committee that oversees NASA."
"Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur who had paid for his own missions to space, replied, "Senator, I only see the left-hand portion of that poster." It was a red-meat, fuck-yeah, pitch-perfect response. And Isaacman may have meant it. But by the time of his testimony, the Trump administration had started a process that would lay waste to NASA, pushing nearly 4,000 agency employees to quit."
Senator Ted Cruz demanded a solemn vow that the United States would not lose a space race to China. Cruz displayed a poster contrasting Chinese success on the moon with a tiny American flag planted by two astronauts. Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who funded his own missions, responded that he only saw the left-hand portion of the poster. The Trump administration initiated actions that pushed nearly 4,000 NASA employees to quit and proposed a 24 percent budget cut, then withdrew Isaacman's nomination and appointed a controversial part-time acting chief who later clashed with Elon Musk. Isaacman later returned to consideration for the role amidst continued upheaval.
Read at WIRED
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