Ensure Confirmation Hearings Address NASA Science Mission Protection

I urge you to use Jared Isaacman's confirmation hearings to secure commitments that protect NASA's scientific mission and institutional capabilities. As a billionaire SpaceX customer nominated to lead NASA, Isaacman must address serious questions about how he will preserve the agency's core functions during a time of unprecedented budget pressure. The draft plan attributed to Isaacman, known as Project Athena, proposes restructuring NASA around more "as-a-service" type contracts. The confirmation hearings must establish clear boundaries for this approach. NASA is not a procurement office. The agency's strength resides in its centers, where dedicated civil servants and researchers conduct groundbreaking science that serves the public interest. Science and exploration belong with NASA, not outsourced to for-profit corporations focused on shareholder returns. This confirmation occurs during a crisis for NASA science. The Science Mission Directorate faces approximately 50 percent budget cuts under the current administration's spending bill, cuts the Planetary Society described as "an extinction-level event" in July. The hearings must address how Isaacman plans to protect NASA's scientific capabilities rather than accelerate their dismantling through privatization. To compete with China, Russia, and emerging space powers, America needs robust investment in NASA's scientific capabilities. NASA conducts climate research, planetary science, astrophysics, and Earth observation that no private company would pursue because these efforts don't generate immediate profits. When we privatize these functions, we lose the institutional knowledge, long-term planning capability, and public accountability that have made American space science the global standard for decades. I ask you to use the confirmation process to extract specific commitments from Isaacman about preserving NASA's science budget, maintaining the agency's institutional expertise, and ensuring that core scientific functions remain with NASA centers rather than being outsourced to private contractors.