Khaberni - The White House witnessed a notable incident during Trump's meeting with the «Artemis 2» crew, after a sarcastic comment he directed at the NASA director sparked wide reaction.
In the Oval Office at the White House, on April 30, 2026, an interesting moment occurred during a meeting between Donald Trump and the crew of NASA's «Artemis 2» mission, when he directed a surprising comment at agency director Jared Isaacman, jokingly mentioning his «beautiful ears» and «superhuman hearing".
The situation arose during a journalist's question about the possibility of moving NASA's headquarters from Washington after the lease ends, to which Donald Trump replied, addressing Jared Isaacman, «Did you hear the question with those beautiful ears?», then added with a smile: «He has superhuman hearing.»
The comment caused a moment of silence in the room before Jared Isaacman responded, saying: «Just a skill from work, sir,» before moving on to answer the question about the future of the headquarters.
The incident triggered widespread interaction on social media, where journalist from «The Washington Post», John Hudson, wrote: «I can't believe this actually happened inside the Oval Office.»
Meanwhile, journalist Lauren Acton Taylor from the «Daily Mail» recounted details of the moment, noting that the attendees included the «Artemis 2» crew, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
It is noted that Donald Trump initially nominated Jared Isaacman as the NASA administrator in December 2024, but withdrew the nomination in late May, halting the confirmation process indefinitely, leaving the agency with an acting director.
At that time, Janet Petro was serving as the director of the Kennedy Space Center.
Donald Trump later changed his stance on Jared Isaacman amid a public dispute with Elon Musk, when Trump posted on his «Truth Social» platform stating he was unaware that Isaacman was «a true Democrat who had never donated to any Republican.»
In response, a report by «Politico» revealed a 62-page document known as «Project Athena,» outlining Jared Isaacman's vision for NASA. After its publication, Isaacman returned to prominence in early November, when he described the document as an initial list «of ideas and concepts about the direction of the agency and how it can work more efficiently and effectively,» leading to Donald Trump re-nominating him on November 4, which enabled him to secure the position.
The meeting is part of the US administration's celebration of the crew's historic moon orbit, while Donald Trump continues to promote plans to relaunch manned moon missions by 2028, despite controversies over cuts to NASA's education and research budgets, as pointed out by space policy expert Casey Dreier from The Planetary Society.
