Trump picks Jared Isaacman as new NASA head

On December 4th, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced via social media that his nominee for NASA administrator during his second-term would be Jared Isaacman.

Writing online, Trump said the following about his decision to choose Isaacman:

"I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of NASA. Jared will drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology, and exploration." – "Jared's passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era."

Isaacman responded shortly after via a post on X (formerly Twitter), accepting the nomination and stating:

"I am honored to receive President Trump’s nomination to serve as the next Administrator of NASA. Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history." – "I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun. Space holds unparalleled potential for breakthroughs in manufacturing, biotechnology, mining, and perhaps even pathways to new sources of energy. There will inevitably be a thriving space economy—one that will create opportunities for countless people to live and work in space." – "I was born after the Moon landings; my children were born after the final space shuttle launch. With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to journey to the stars and never settle for second place. We will inspire children, yours and mine, to look up and dream of what is possible. Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth." – "It is the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role and to work alongside NASA’s extraordinary team to realize our shared dreams of exploration and discovery."

Isaacman will likely be sworn in as NASA Administrator shortly after Trump's second inauguration in January 2025. When sworn in he will replace current Administrator Bill Nelson, who has been serving as head of NASA since May 2021.

Who is Jared Isaacman?

Jared Isaacman is a billionaire commercial astronaut who has flown into space twice. He is also the founder of U.S. military contractor Draken International and Chief Executive Officer of the Shift4 payment processing company.

Isaacman's two trips to space were for the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions. Inspiration4 had Isaacman and three other commercial astronauts orbit the Earth to raise awareness and money for St. Judes Children's Research Hospital. Polaris Dawn had Isaacman perform the first commercial spacewalk, demonstrating similar spacesuit extravehicular capabilities of the Gemini program. Both of these missions were using SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. Jared Isaacman's total time in space is seven days and twenty-one hours.

A conflict of interest?

Isaacman is already a repeat customer of SpaceX's human spaceflight services and has plans to book at least two more missions with the company. He was also a major advocate in flying to the Hubble Space Telescope and performing a servicing mission using Crew Dragon and a SpaceX spacesuit, an idea that NASA chose not to go ahead with due to a lack of sufficiently demonstrated hardware and safety to Hubble.

One of Isaacman's companies, Shift4, is also holding millions of dollars of SpaceX stock along with being a partner with the company. SpaceX is a key NASA contractor and already has a defacto monopoly when not forced to compete.

Online Isaacman has been an enthusiastic supporter of Elon Musk (Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter)) and his plans to gut the U.S. Federal Government via a 'Department of Government Efficiency'. This new department could allow Musk to overrule government agencies that regulate his companies.