WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Katie Britt plans to keep a close eye on what the nominee to lead NASA, Jared Isaacman, says about the future of critical Alabama space programs, like the Space Launch System, during his second confirmation hearing today.
President Donald Trump renominated Isaacman, a tech billionaire, to be the NASA administrator in November after he withdrew his nomination in late May over his “prior associations.” Issaacman also has close ties with SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been serving as the acting NASA administrator.
Alabama’s junior senator had an hour-long meeting with Isaacman a couple of weeks ago to address her “great concern” with the nominee’s proposed plans that could jeopardize Marshall Space Flight Center’s missions, she told Alabama Daily News.
A leaked plan, obtained by Politico, showed Isaacman planned to “terminate” the Space Launch System, the heavy-lift launch vehicle that can send astronauts to the moon for Artemis missions, after two more flights. That would have been a big blow to Marshall Space Flight Center, which manages the SLS in Huntsville.
“I addressed those head on with him,” Britt told ADN. “I did not mince my words.”
Britt wanted to hear commitments from him, “on the importance of Artemis and the SLS rocket, with Marshall being the center of excellence for propulsion.
She said she got them.
Now, she wants them to be made public during Wednesday’s hearing.
Isaacman’s leaked plan, called Project Athena, echoed Trump’s budget request, which called for phasing out the SLS after three flights. But the One Big Beautiful Bill Act funded the Artemis program through 2029 and injected $4.1 billion into the program.
Britt said Isaacman told her he would follow through on that and use that money to fund Artemis through the fifth flight.
“He made that very clear to me,” she told ADN. “He also made very clear that he understood the importance of nuclear thermal propulsion and understood that Marshall was the center of excellence for propulsion, and that we would need to continue to invest and develop both (nuclear thermal propulsion) and (nuclear electric propulsion).”
In November, Isaacman responded to the leaked plan in a lengthy social media post, calling parts of it “dated” and saying it should be viewed as a “living document.”
“To be clear, the plan does not issue a directive to cancel Gateway or SLS,” he said in an X post. “It does explore the possibility of pivoting hardware and resources to a nuclear electric propulsion program after the objectives of the President’s budget are complete.”
Marshall also plays a role in Gateway, a planned space station to orbit the moon, with the center providing engineering and research support.
Isaacman will appear in front of the Senate Commerce Committee this morning.
Though Britt is not a member of that committee, she will be watching “intently” to see if the nominee makes public commitments on protecting the work done at Marshall for space exploration.
“Those two things need to match up as we move forward,” Britt said. “And I think they will.”
If they do match up, Britt plans to support his nomination, she said.
The committee is set to vote on Isaacman’s nomination Monday. If he advances, the full Senate will then take up the vote.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville posted on X that with Isaacman in charge at NASA, “Alabama will continue to lead for decades to come” when it comes to space exploration.