User3001

It is good to see NASA getting some well deserved attention today--between Senator Cruz’s hearing and the big Associate Admin promotion. But with respect to the hearing, I do agree we should be asking why taxpayers have spent $100+ billion trying to return to the Moon over the last few decades and still face such a complicated journey ahead. SLS is extraordinarily expensive, Orion has issues, the suits are not ready, the landers are not ready--and for sure, there is a real chance China could get there before our grand return. I think that warrants congressional discussion--and I imagine if it could all be done over today, different decisions would be made. What I think is incorrect, in my humble view, is poking holes at the complexity of orbital refueling. Both Blue Origin's Mk2 lander and SpaceX’s landers depend on it, private industry is investing heavily in the capability (so it is not entirely on the shoulders of the taxpayers) and when it works it will change the game in applications well beyond the Moon. If all we wanted was another Apollo-style LEM, that would surely have simplified things--but are we trying to repeat 1969?--or pioneer the technologies that will extend America's ability to explore, discover and defend in the high ground of space?

A bit of clarification--though I don’t think my circumstances are particularly interesting or consequential. That said, and regardless of the points below, the President is entitled to assemble the leadership team he believes will best serve his administration. I have been relatively apolitical--a right-leaning moderate--and my political donations across both parties (though 10x more to Republicans) were disclosed in writing, with rationale, before my nomination was ever submitted to the Senate. As for the perceived conflict--I only know Elon professionally, but having flown to space twice on SpaceX rockets, I have a firsthand appreciation for what he and his companies have accomplished. It is also worth pointing out that SpaceX remains the only way American astronauts have been able to travel to and from orbit since the Space Shuttle was retired in 2011. I hold no direct or indirect equity in SpaceX--or in any aerospace or defense company for that matter. Like all nominees, I signed an ethics letter and would have honored it. Personally, I don’t regret anything--it was an honor to even be considered by the President. I loved DC and my brief time in the arena. The real disappointment is the time lost by Senators and staff who invested six months into a confirmation process that was ultimately withdrawn. This leaves NASA without a confirmed leader for what may stretch on for over a year. That is not ideal for the world’s most accomplished space agency--or for America--especially as our geopolitical rivals move at impressive speeds to overtake our edge in the high ground of space. Hopefully, a new nominee will emerge soon as NASA needs leadership during this uncertain time. I have been lucky to live the American Dream and if you know anything about me--you know this was never about political ambition, personal gain or enriching others. I love my country and I care deeply about America’s competitiveness and leadership in space. 🇺🇸

If my recent time in DC and the political connections I have made serve any purpose--it should be to get a Tomcat out of the boneyard and bring the Turkey back to life in honor of USN heritage. No idea how successful I will be--it will take an act of Congress--but it can be done

Apologies for the TLDR, but when you step back, it is kind of wild what we’ve all lived through over the last five years. No wonder so many young people are anxious about the future—the ‘disturbance in the force’ feels stronger by the day. I don’t have any grand takeaways other than this--the world could use an immediate course correction in the direction of boring--or we may really need those Mars rockets sooner than expected. One thing is for sure--Israel is making a compelling case for Golden Dome. • A once-in-a-century pandemic shuts the world down. No matter how you view it in hindsight, both allies and adversaries were nearly unified in halting the global economy and banishing society to lockdowns and high-pressure mask & vaccination campaigns. • We tried to print our way out of the system shock, triggering the most euphoric markets since the dot-com bubble—pre-revenue IPOs reappeared for some reason and people forgot that good companies generally don’t SPAC. • The digital revolution kicked into overdrive—work-from-home, virtual education traumatized parents, Zoom cocktail parties, Peloton, DoorDash and MS Teams---probably the most painful development. • Civil unrest emerged alongside deepening social and political divides. • A disheartening end to the war in Afghanistan—trillions spent, thousands of lives lost and the Taliban is still running the show. • Market euphoria gave way to historic inflation. Interest rates shot up to cool things down. The tide went out, and the “shitcos” failed. Centralized crypto exchanges gambled customer deposits. Hedge funds weren’t hedged. VC-heavy banks like SVB collapsed, triggering a temporary panic in the regional banking system. The big banks… got even bigger. • For the first time since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a nuclear superpower launched a full-scale invasion of a neighboring country. The West isolates Russia, and we witness a new asymmetric dynamic in warfare--cheap drones, missile swarms, all playing out in real time on social media. • The metaverse and Web3 died quickly as the “Magnificent Seven” lead a market rebound on the promise of AI. • China closes gaps--and maybe pulls ahead--in some of the most strategically important technologies. They tolerate risk, aren’t afraid to steal good ideas and make them better--and operate with a culture that—for all its flaws—just goes out and does big things without dragging decades of baggage behind it. • Hamas launches a surprise attack on Israeli civilians, takes hostages and triggers a war that pulls in Iranian proxies like the Houthis--disrupting global shipping lanes and igniting a politically charged humanitarian crisis. • Political winds shift again. A former President—also the frontrunner—is shot in an assassination attempt, the first since Reagan. Thankfully, he survives and is now our 47th President. • The Pakistani and Indian Air Forces engage in the largest air-to-air exchange in decades. China’s latest fighters and missiles see combat success against contemporary French aircraft—signaling what many already knew--China’s military is approaching peer status. • Israel launches the most sophisticated and devastating air campaign since Desert Storm—targeting Iranian military and scientific leadership, degrading air defenses, missile systems and nuclear infrastructure..and the conflict may just be getting warmed up. All in just five years... Hopefully our defense and policy leaders are paying attention and making some course corrections. Congressional leadership is mostly well-intentioned, but often fights for expensive job programs--exactly the kind of thing an over-consolidated defense industry encourages--even as we stare down an unsustainable $36 trillion national debt. That’s how you end up holding a fleet of battleships during the advent of the aircraft carrier.... Only this time, the analogy breaks down--because as a nation have forgotten how to build ships. So instead, we will have $300 million fighter jets we can’t afford, arriving a decade too late, in quantities that may not even matter—disrupted by million-dollar, hypersonic, laser-equipped drones that our adversaries will likely produce at scale. Until, perhaps, the dark horse Skynet T-1000 shows up. This is the time--especially in such a politically charged environment--when we need to be finding more ways to come together instead of moving farther apart. A time to be rooting for America and our leadership, not betting on the next Polymarket catastrophe. Because if the next five years look anything like the last, military parades and trade imbalances will be the least of our problems.