In 2022, billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman announced that he was willing to foot the bill for a daring rescue mission to fix NASA’s aging Hubble Space Telescope.
Isaacman, who would go on to become the first private astronaut to perform a spacewalk, said at the time that he was giddy with excitement over the “possibility of extending the life and capabilities of one of our greatest explorers.”
NASA officials were less impressed with the plan, which would involve a heavily modified SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft docking with the Hubble and boosting its orbit. In 2024, they dealt the mission a fatal blow, arguing that the risks outweighed the “long-term science return.”
“I acknowledge this is not my telescope to touch and a lot of time has passed from the study till now,” Isaacman tweeted in response. “Government priorities change, budgets become tight, regardless of who is funding the mission, it does require contributions of resources from a lot of parties to ensure success.”
