NASA finally—and we really do mean it this time—has a full-time leader

Now, finally, he will get a chance to act, rather than react to everyone else.

As the Project Athena plan clearly demonstrates, Isaacman has a good handle on the problems besetting NASA, an aging and increasingly bureaucratic agency. NASA can still do great things, but it has become almost infinitely harder since the heady days of Apollo six decades ago.

Isaacman has ideas to shake things up, but not to the extent of wanton change for the sake of change. It is clear from the…