Good day, and welcome again to TechCrunch House! To the shock of nobody, ever, NASA introduced that the following Artemis mission is delayed to no sooner than April 2026, and the following Artemis III mission is delayed to mid-2027. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see how Artemis modifications beneath Jared Isaacman’s management — extra on that beneath…
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I’ll admit that I used to be a bit shocked this week after I realized that incoming President Donald Trump is nominating entrepreneur and personal astronaut Jared Isaacman to the position of NASA Administrator. The NASA Administrator oversees a $25 billion funds and a workforce of greater than 18,000 folks — in addition to guiding main scientific initiatives that assist us perceive local weather change, the photo voltaic system, and a lot extra.
I took a stab at attempting to know how Isaacman — who just isn’t a political determine, and has by no means held public workplace — would lead the area company by means of what might find yourself being probably the most consequential intervals in NASA historical past.
Many individuals have puzzled what precisely is happening with SpinLaunch, a startup that’s growing an alternate system for delivering satellites and different payloads to orbit. I wasn’t capable of resolve it, however I did be taught one thing attention-grabbing: Whereas SpinLaunch lately closed $11 million in new funding (after elevating a $71 million Sequence B in 2022), they have been mulling a a lot, a lot greater sum earlier this yr.
It’s becoming that we’ve talked a lot about the way forward for the Artemis program this week, as a result of for this week’s “This week in space history” section, we’re wanting again at Apollo 17 — aka the final time people walked on the moon. The mission, which occurred from December 7-19, 1972, was the final crewed lunar touchdown beneath NASA’s Apollo program. Click on the hyperlink above to be taught extra concerning the mission.
