On Episode 164 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik discuss these concerning times for NASA with Casey Dreier, the Chief of Space Policy for The Planetary Society.. What a wild week it's been for NASA. With drastic budget cuts looming — pending any action by Congress — then comes the sudden and unexpected pulling of Jared Isaacman for the role of NASA Administrator, with no replacement named.
Then came the very public split between President Trump and Elon Musk, and a flurry of furious Twitter/X and Truth Social postings, aimed at each other with razor-sharp edges.
And finally, the proposed and drastic cuts to NASA outreach and education budgets, slimming them to nearly nothing.
These are strange and concerning times for America's space agency, a premier global brand and icon