CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —President Trump interrupted a NASA press convention at the moment (Aug. 30) to congratulate the Nancy Grace Roman Area Telescope staff on a profitable launch. Only a few years in the past, nonetheless, the president tried to cancel this very mission.
In at the moment’s briefing, mission management was going by means of the specifics of Roman’s successful launch and the science the observatory is predicted to ship when NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman received a telephone name. It was the president. The room fell silent, although I might hear Nicky Fox, NASA affiliate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, say, “He is not kidding.”
“Hiya, sir,” Isaacman stated. He received as much as take the decision outdoors the room however got here got here again in just a few moments later. “The president of america wish to deal with and congratulate everybody on this mission,” he stated. “You are dwell, Mr. President.”
“I simply wish to thank all people and congratulate you,” Trump stated on the telephone, which Isaacman held as much as the microphone and clearly displayed Trump’s identify. “Boy, it seemed lovely on tv … You might be doing a implausible job, and I am supplying you all that cash.”
The president spoke for greater than a minute whereas Isaacman smiled, holding the telephone as much as a microphone for everybody to listen to, and the gang of journalists listened intently. The decision was principally congratulatory, however Trump did go on a short tangent, claiming that he has taken NASA to new heights.
Close to the start of his first time period in 2016, Trump stated, he visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida and noticed that “grass was rising by means of the cracks within the runways, and there have been loads of cracks. And I seemed; that place was closed … It was simply actually closed. And now, once more, like we’re with the nation itself, we are the hottest there may be. We are the hottest. You are the most popular in house, and we’ve the most popular nation anyplace on the planet.”
(To make clear, KSC was solely closed for 2 days in 2016, and that was due to Hurricane Matthew.)
President Trump’s relationship with the Roman mission is extra difficult than at the moment’s congratulatory name may counsel, nonetheless. Below the Trump administration, the White Home has repeatedly tried to cancel or restrict funding for this mission.
Between 2019 and 2021, for instance, the president proposed canceling Roman (then known as WFIRST) three separate instances in three completely different funds requests. Congress rejected these proposals and saved the mission funded. However then, in April 2025, stories emerged about preliminary “passback” funds paperwork that proposed slashing NASA science funding by about 50%. The proposed cuts have been deep sufficient, experts suggested, that the Roman mission would finish in the event that they have been handed. That did not occur both, after all; Congress ended up passing a $24.4 billion NASA budget for fiscal 12 months 2026, retaining the company’s funding comparatively flat.
As Trump made his name at the moment to a room full of science journalists, this little bit of latest funds historical past didn’t go unnoticed.
(Picture credit score: NASA)
A direct query
“Query for the administrator,” SpaceNews reporter Jeff Foust requested Isaacman at the moment following Trump’s name. “It is nice to listen to the president name in and present us pleasure concerning the Roman launch. I do know the administration in previous years, in its first time period, proposed zeroing out Roman and in addition proposed a severe minimize in Roman’s funds simply final 12 months. What did you inform the administration, and the president, to alter his thoughts and make him so excited a few mission that he as soon as proposed to cancel?”
Isaacman didn’t immediately deal with the query, focusing as a substitute on the present local weather, which he stated could be very constructive.
“I am extremely grateful for his help, the house coverage, the assets,” Isaacman responded. “Feels like from that decision, perhaps much more assets, which can be an important factor for extra missions of science and discovery.”
