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Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space! To absolutely no one’s shock, NASA announced that the next Artemis mission has been postponed to no later than April 2026, and the subsequent Artemis 3 mission has been postponed to mid-2027. It will be interesting to see how Artemis changes under Jared Isaacman’s leadership – More More on that below…
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I’ll admit I was a little surprised this week to learn that incoming President Donald Trump is nominating businessman and private astronaut Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator. NASA’s administrator oversees a $25 billion budget and a workforce of more than 18,000 people — as well as directing major scientific initiatives that help us understand climate change, the solar system, and much more.
I tried to understand how Isaacman — who is not a political figure and has never held public office — would lead the space agency through what could ultimately become one of the most critical periods in NASA’s history.
Many people have wondered what exactly is going on with SpinLaunch, a startup that is developing an alternative system for delivering satellites and other payloads into orbit. I wasn’t able to get to the bottom of the matter, but I learned something interesting: While SpinLaunch recently closed $11 million in new funding (after raising a $71 million Series B in 2022), they were considering a much higher amount earlier this year .
It’s fitting that we talked a lot about the future of the Artemis program this week, because in this week’s This Week in Space History segment, we’re looking at Apollo 17 — a.k.a. The last time humans walked on the moon. The mission, which took place from December 7 to 19, 1972, was the last manned landing on the moon under NASA’s Apollo program. Click the link above to learn more about the assignment.
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