Text: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” July 5, 2026

The following is a transcript of an interview with NASA administrator Jared Isaacman that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on July 5, 2026.

ED O’KEEFE: Now we turn to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who is back on the ground after his Fourth of July flyover. Yes, he was one of those piloting one of those planes right there. I think you will go down in Face the Nation history as the first person to ever drive a flyover and appear on the show. So, we appreciate it. Thank you for being here.

JARED ISAACMAN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: I’m excited to participate in such a historic event, like yesterday, and to be here today and talk about such an amazing story.

ED O’KEEFE: Yeah, and it’s part of why we wanted it here, because I think we’ve been thinking for the last few months about how Artemis in particular, seems to bring the world, and to some extent, the world back together to- focus on this common journey back to the great beyond. Why, in your opinion, is it so important for America to maintain a presence in space?

ISAACMAN: Well, I’ve been – I’ve been lucky enough to be in space twice and have that perspective and appreciation for the scale of it all. I mean, the best way to describe it, as we understand our progress in what I think is the greatest adventure in human history, is to dip your toe in the greatest ocean. I mean, just to let you know, I mean, we’re lucky. We’re lucky enough to be given a moon with just four and a half days to go as a signpost to keep going out, and we’re just getting started. I mean, everything we have to learn from a scientific perspective, economic power. I’ll tell you, there will be a lunar economy one day. We’ll be mining asteroids at some point, so it’s not just scientific, there’s economics, there’s motivation a big part of it. I mean, we’re talking about the world stop and look at those Artemis II astronauts, right? But how many children were watching – your children, the grandchildren who were watching now want to grow up and play a part in this great effort as engineers and scientists and astronauts? I mean, it’s a price worth paying, but it’s just the beginning. We don’t really understand our own solar system—you know, what’s in our solar system, let alone the other stars in the Milky Way galaxy, or all the other galaxies out there.

ED O’KEEFE: I want to ask you about a few things that are facing NASA right now. First of all, in the last few days, he established the intention to fix with private companies to work on the so-called Swift telescope that tracks gamma rays and has been slowly descending, close to the Earth’s atmosphere for years. How is that mission going now, almost three days in?

ISAACMAN: Well, we’re still getting data from it. It is a very interesting machine. It’s a rescue mission of a scientific instrument out there. So, you know, in the past, space was so expensive, you’d have to spend so much time building your tools, you know, so many layers of redundancy, which just adds more cost and more delay. And now we can take advantage of the most healthy commercial launch market in the history of the American space program, many different suppliers that can do things inexpensively, and we can try. Therefore, we have a telescope or a scientific instrument that is in a certain state of stress at the moment, and at a very low cost, we can try the industry to start the mission to meet it, set it up, improve it, and give it a lease of life. Now it’s very early in the mission, as you say, it’s been a few days. We’re still establishing comms with it, and it’s also doing a lot of testing, so I wouldn’t expect it to come out of the gate perfect, but we’ll learn more in the coming days. And if it works, this gives us options for Hubble and other scientific instruments.

ED O’KEEFE: And it’s about $30 million, which for NASA is affordable, or really lower cost than most other projects–

ISAACMAN: Yeah, I mean, you’re thinking about something like- now James Webb, it’s not going to work on it, because it’s based on Lagrange space, but I mean, that was a very expensive, multi-billion dollar, almost ten-year mission. Now, instead of replacing it with another multi-billion dollar campaign, if you could start something with $30 million to go up and develop it, you know, give it a new lease of life, that’s– that’s money worth spending. Now, again, you wouldn’t do it with James Webb, but this is a good example of a mission where you can test the power, and who knows the value it will have in the years to come.

ED O’KEEFE: In the last century, Russia was competing in space. In this case, it is undoubtedly China, and you have repeatedly warned that we may be in a competition with them that you do not measure in years, but in months. So contrary to that warning, I ask you a few questions now about Artemis III. He is preparing to take the next Artemis trip next year. He has had setbacks. Are you still sure it will go off as planned?

ISAACMAN: Well, I was just saying, first of all, it’s not the same as arguing that- we’re in the space race right now, and the Chinese are moving at incredible speeds, and they’re able to do things that the Soviets weren’t during the first space race. The Chinese will put their taikouts on the moon. There is no question. The question is, will the United States come back before them, and will we do it differently this time, when we build the foundation, establish that permanent presence? I think the answer is yes. President Trump gave us a national policy for the environment, my first day on the job. He gave us a $10 billion investment and more, a historic investment in the Working Family Tax Cut Act. That’s what allowed us to add Artemis III work next year. So we go back. It will be an incredible show. Last night’s fireworks show, an unbelievable show. I tell you, in a very short time, on Artemis III, you will see three of the most powerful rockets in the world: NASA’s SLS, SpaceX’s Starship, Blue Origin’s New Glenn. Then you will have the inhabitants of the Earth come together in Earth orbit, test their capabilities, very à la Apollo 9. We gave confidence to our Earth owners with Artemis IV in 2028. This is an achievable plan. Bring the astronauts back to the surface of the moon, and in parallel, we’re launching missions near-per-monthly in 2027 to build a base on the moon, to have that permanent presence, that evidence of Mars.

ED O’KEEFE: The goal is to get Artemis IV to the moon by 2028. The Chinese are thinking about 2030. Any delay could put us that much closer to its 2030 goal, right?

ISAACMAN: Well, they said before 2030, I want to clarify.

ED O’KEEFE: Right.

ISAKMAN: That’s why I say these are months, not years. Right now, they are thinking about 2029. We say, the end of 2028 is when we are looking to arrive, which is months, not years. But we have a plan that can be implemented. We have a national space policy, we have support from Congress. We have the best and brightest from across the nation who have done this before, and we will do it again.

ED O’KEEFE: One of the problems in preparing these next missions, of course, is what happened with Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket a few months ago. It exploded at the end of May. The CEO admitted that they do not know the cause yet. They are still trying to figure it out, but they are still hoping to fly and be able to relaunch later this year. Have you received any updates on what happened with that explosion, and is it important to know for sure what happened before they try another launch?

ISAACMAN: Well, NASA has been playing a role in this from the beginning. So, we were- I was at the venue with the band the next morning after that- that goes way back. I was there with Jeff Bezos and their CEO, Dave Limp, on this issue. We help provide subject matter expertise to Blue Origin. We help with confusing rocket searches. We help rebuild the pad. Most importantly, we help keep the lander moving. We cannot slow down. Of course, they will hold their arms on this question. They have already been alerted to a possible engine issue. They will solve that. Okay, you go back to the late 1950s, early 1960s, you can see YouTube videos of NASA rockets having problems all the time. How we learn. No one was hurt this time, so they will learn. They’re going to fix their engine, they’re going to rebuild their path, they’re going to go back to launching rockets, NASA is here to help. And, as I said, it’s the healthiest launch market in the history of the American space program. We have many suppliers who can donate. We have to keep the cleaner going and make sure we have the right result, which is the successful work of Artemis III. Then we come to Artemis IV.

ED O’KEEFE: In our remaining seconds, you talked about the lunar bases. By 2029, you want to have people living on the moon for a long time, right?

ISAACMAN: Well, I would say from 2027, we want to start building the base. In 2028, when NASA astronauts reach the surface of the moon, there will be a vehicle there, a land vehicle, there will be the beginning of infrastructure, in 2029, you will have more infrastructure. But I can say, in the early 2030s, the moon will resemble the International Space Station. You will have a crew there for a very long time, as we study that area and prepare for Mars.

ED O’KEEFE: It takes a lot of money, there’s a lot of work to be done. But we’re glad to be here, NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman. Happy Fourth of July.

ISAACMAN: We’re happy for the fourth time.

ED O’KEEFE: Let me know.

ISAKMAN: Thank you.

ED O’KEEFE: And we’ll be back with more Face the Nation, stay with us.