On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump declared his intention to appoint wealthy businessman Jared Isaacman to head NASA.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that Jared will lead NASA’s mission of inspiration and discovery, opening the door for ground-breaking advancements in space science, technology, and exploration.
Isaacman founded Shift4, a payment processing startup, and serves as its CEO. He has not held a position at NASA or the federal government, but he has made two trips to orbit on commercial SpaceX missions. For an undisclosed amount, Isaacman personally paid for both of those space missions.
Elon Musk, the multibillionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is close to Isaacman. Musk, who is close to the president-elect, was selected by Trump to co-lead a new Department of Government Efficiency.
The Polaris Program, a set of three private spaceflights to test technology and maneuvers for exploration beyond Earth’s orbit, was funded and launched by Isaacman in 2022 in collaboration with Musk and SpaceX. During the first of the three spaceflights, called Polaris Dawn, Isaacman was one of four private citizens launched into orbit.
The first all-civilian spacewalk took place during the five-day mission in September.
In 2021, Isaacman also funded and participated in SpaceX’s first all-civilian orbital mission.
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