Trump chooses billionaire space tourist to run NASA

Jared Isaacman has led two private spaceflights through SpaceX, in 2021 and 2024.

US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of payments company Shift4, who has led two private spaceflights and has conducted a spacewalk, to be the next head of NASA.

Isaacman, 41, is a close associate of billionaire Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX. He is now in line to replace the current administrator, Bill Nelson, who was nominated by outgoing president Joe Biden in 2021 and who has also traveled into orbit, as part of a Space Shuttle mission in 1986.

”Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration,” Trump wrote on Wednesday in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Isaacman said he was honored to receive the nomination and looked forward to helping “usher in an era where humanity becomes a true spacefaring civilization.”

“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,” he wrote on X, adding that “Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and, in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth.”

In a letter to Shift4 employees, Isaacman wrote he intends “to remain CEO until my confirmation” and to “retain the majority of my equity interest,” but will reduce his shareholder voting power.

”After nearly 26 years leading Shift4, the time has come for me to embark on a new journey,” the entrepreneur wrote.

In 2021, Isaacman led the first all-civilian mission to space on a chartered flight with SpaceX.

Earlier this year, he led the Polaris Dawn mission as SpaceX’s crew of civilian astronauts conducted the first commercial spacewalk. The mission was meant to test new technologies and procedures that could be used in future space flights. The spacewalk lasted roughly two hours and was broadcast live.

”Back at home we all have a lot of work to do but, from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman said during the spacewalk after emerging from the capsule.

NASA has ties to SpaceX, relying on the company’s rocket launches to take astronauts into space and bring supplies to the International Space Station. If confirmed as NASA administrator, Isaacman would oversee multi-billion-dollar contracts that the US government has awarded to SpaceX.