Donald Trump chooses billionaire Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
Isaacman made two space trips with SpaceX.
Elect president Donald Trump has appointed billionaire Jared Isaacman as the new director of NASA, it was announced on Wednesday. Isaacman was the financier and participant of the Polaris Dawn mission, where he and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis performed the first commercial spacewalk.
With this appointment, Isaacman will replace former Florida senator Bill Nelson, who was selected by President Joe Biden to lead the agency. In addition to his involvement in Polaris Dawn, Isaacman also financed the Inspiration 4 mission, which took him and three other non-professional astronauts into space aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket in 2021.
Most of Isaacman's fortune comes from Shift4, the payment processing company he founded at the age of 16. He currently continues to serve as the company's CEO, which recently acquired the Canadian gift card platform Givex and secured a payment deal with Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, in 2021.
Isaacman, supported by President Trump, has committed to ensuring that the United States does not lose its ability to explore space again. In a message posted on X, he stated: “Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars, and in doing so, we will improve life here on Earth.” This appointment adds to a list of unconventional choices by Trump to lead various government agencies and advisory committees, which also includes the new "Government Efficiency Department," led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.