Incoming president Donald Trump has nominated Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut, to lead NASA through what could be one of the most consequential periods in the agency’s history.
During the four years of Trump’s second term, NASA will need to navigate a number of significant changes and challenges, including the ongoing Artemis program, and the growing commercialization of space, and potentially the de-orbiting of the International Space Station. In all likelihood, it will also the be the period in which SpaceX’s Starship starts flying commercial missions — and possibly even making its first uncrewed journey to Mars.
Isaacman, the founder and CEO of the payment processing platform Shift4, has been one of the most vocal proponents of commercial spaceflight. Under his Polaris Program initiative, he backed two separate missions to orbit that were conducted by SpaceX. During the most recent mission, which took place in September, Isaacman and another member of the four-person crew conducted the first-ever private spacewalk using SpaceX’s new extravehicular activity suits.
He’s pushed forward a proposal — that he said he’d fund — to launch a private mission to boost the orbit of the aging Hubble Telescope. (NASA did not take him up on the offer.) And he’s been a huge supporter of SpaceX’s plans to make life multi-planetary.
“If there’s a technical path to ensuring humanity’s survival — and Starship appears to be the closest we’ve come — it seems irresponsible not to pursue it,” he said in a post on X in August.
The appointment of Isaacson to this role would almost certainly be of immeasurable benefit to SpaceX and Elon Musk — who, coincidentally, is in what is reportedly an influential advisory role with President-Elect Trump.
Other public posts on X suggest that Isaacman could help usher in major changes to how NASA manages its nearly $25 billion budget, 18,000-person workforce, and the many ongoing programs it funds. Many of these initiatives have blown past their budgets; some, like the lunar ice prospecting rover Viper, have been canceled as a result. Others, like the next crewed missions under the Artemis program, have merely been severely delayed.
Regarding news from last year that the staff of an operational space mission may be trimmed due to budget concerns, Isaacman said, referring to the Artemis program, “I am confused how we can fund billions per launch on a disposable mega rocket, fund two lunar landers to prevent hurt feelings but we can’t keep New Horizons staff funded at present levels?”
Isaacman, who also founded defense contractor Drake International, has also called out the need for America to stay competitive with adversary nations, particularly China, in the space arena. He has frequently commented on China’s domestic spaceflight capabilities, saying last February that if that country lands humans on the moon before the U.S. returns, “it will be an immense wake-up call with real domestic and geopolitical ramifications.”
Like other key appointments to the incoming administration, Isaacman will still need to be confirmed by the Senate in order to take on the role. He would replace former senator Bill Nelson, who took the helm in 2021 after being appointed by President Joe Biden. Isaacman told Shift4 employees that he would remain CEO until he’s confirmed.
In a statement, Isaacman said that NASA would help usher in “an era where humanity becomes a true spacefaring civilization.”
