Trump’s NASA pick to tell Congress about moon race with China, deep-space ambition

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WASHINGTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead NASA, will tell senators on Wednesday that he wants to expand investments in nuclear propulsion and commercial efforts to help the U.S. return to the moon before China, which he calls “our great rival,” gets there, according to prepared testimony seen by Reuters.

“America will return to the Moon before our great rival, and we will establish an enduring presence to understand and realize the scientific, economic, and national security value on the lunar surface,” Isaacman wrote for the Senate hearing. He did not directly name China as the rival, but that country has been making an effort to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.

Isaacman added “we will set the stage for future missions to Mars and beyond” in part by “expanding and accelerating investments into nuclear propulsion and surface power programs.”

Isaacman, an e-commerce mogul who flew to orbit twice on all-private astronaut missions as a customer and collaborator with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, faces his second Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Isaacman’s initial nomination, announced by Trump late last year, was withdrawn over the summer amid a high-profile falling-out between Trump and Musk. Sean Duffy, the head of the U.S. Department of Transportation, was named interim NASA chief in July.

The billionaire reclaimed his nomination from Trump this month two weeks after Duffy said he was inviting other companies to compete with SpaceX for the agency’s marquee lunar landing contracting, leading to a public spat between Duffy and Musk over who should be leading the space agency.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Joey Roulette; Editing by David Gregorio)