NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman@NASAAdmin
Very much appreciate the OIG work. As I posted months ago, NASA is not taking a passive role in any component of America’s return to the lunar surface and building a Moon base. We are reviewing where NASA can do better, how we can provide relief where appropriate to burdensome requirements, where we can expand capabilities over time (Apollo 11’s EVA profile was very different than Apollo 17), and where we can help industry by inserting NASA SMEs and driving the intended outcomes. I am confident that when NASA is ready to land on the Moon in 2028, our astronauts will be wearing Axiom suits.
There will always be lessons learned as we improve across NASA and industry, and we need to be mindful of the contracting approach to stimulate a market versus jumping to an as-a-service model where NASA may be the only customer for the foreseeable future. That places a significant capital burden on providers while they wait for additional demand to materialize. A successful approach for commercial crew and cargo, underpinned by launch, does not mean it is applicable to every space-related service. The orbital and lunar economy is inevitable. We just need to be thoughtful in our approach to sustainably enable it.