Trump Renominates Billionaire Jared Isaacman to Lead NASA Months After Withdrawing Nomination
Donald Trump has once again chosen billionaire astronaut and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to head NASA, five months after unexpectedly pulling his original nomination. Isaacman, 42, is best known as the founder of Shift4 Payments and as the first non-professional astronaut to perform a spacewalk. A close ally of Elon Musk, he has flown on two SpaceX missions — one of which he personally funded.
Trump announced the decision on Truth Social, writing, “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 thanked the president on X, saying, “Thank you, Mr President @POTUS, for this opportunity. It will be an honor to serve my country under your leadership.” He added that the response from the space community has been “overwhelming,” and promised, “I will do everything I can to live up to those expectations.”
The president didn’t explain why he reversed course after withdrawing Isaacman’s nomination in May during his public feud with Musk. At the time, the White House claimed that it was due to a “thorough review of prior associations.” Now, Trump appears confident that Isaacman is the right pick to, as he put it, “lead NASA into a bold new era.”
If confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate, Isaacman would replace interim NASA chief Sean Duffy, who has led the agency since July. Duffy, a former reality TV personality and now head of the Department of Transportation, has been a vocal critic of SpaceX’s delays on the Starship rocket — a key component of NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon. Musk fired back on X after Duffy’s comments, posting: “The person responsible for America's space program can't have a 2 digit IQ.”
Isaacman’s renomination hasn’t been without controversy. Lawmakers from both parties have previously questioned his close financial and professional ties to SpaceX, as well as past political donations to Democrats. Others expressed concern he might prioritize Mars missions over the Moon-focused Artemis program. Isaacman has rejected the idea that NASA must choose between the two. “We don't have to make a binary decision of Moon versus Mars,” he said earlier this year.
Despite the scrutiny, the space industry has largely welcomed Trump’s pick, seeing Isaacman as someone who bridges private and public space exploration. He has said he wants “more astronauts in space with greater frequency” and believes NASA should let commercial companies handle routine missions while focusing its own resources on “the near-impossible” challenges, like nuclear propulsion and deep-space exploration.
Worth an estimated $1.9 billion, Isaacman started Shift4 in his parents’ basement as a teenager before becoming an amateur jet pilot and setting a world record for the fastest flight around the globe in a light jet. If confirmed, he’ll bring both business acumen and first-hand astronaut experience to the job — something few NASA administrators have ever had.
