Congressional Confirmations

Billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman returned to the Senate as President Biden’s nominee to lead NASA, publicly backing Acting Administrator Sean Duffy’s decision to reopen the lunar lander contract competition. He said NASA should pick whichever company—SpaceX or Blue Origin—is first capable of delivering astronauts, framed Moon and Mars as parallel priorities, praised the firms’ rivalry as healthy (Blue Origin’s Blue Moon prototype is due next year while SpaceX’s Starship remains in flight testing), and Sen. Ted Cruz said he hopes Isaacman is confirmed by year’s end.