Who is Jared Isaacman? Billionaire investor, close ally of Elon Musk re-nominated as NASA administrator by US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump re-nominated Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk, as NASA administrator. This comes after Trump first withdrew his candidacies in May following a high-profile “people’s” dispute between Trump and Elon Musk.
US President Donald Trump re-nominated Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk, as NASA administrator. This comes after Trump first withdrew his candidacies in May following a high-profile “people’s” dispute between Trump and Elon Musk. Sean Duffy, then head of the U.S. Department of Transportation, was appointed acting NASA chief.
Who is Jared Isaacman?
Jared Isaacman is a billionaire investor and private astronaut. He has flown into orbit twice with SpaceX on completely private astronaut missions, even helping to fund several of SpaceX’s space missions.
Isaacman is also the founder and CEO of financial transactions service Shift4 Payments. Donald Trump nominated him as NASA administrator last year, upon the recommendation of Elon Musk, who was an advisor to Trump.
According to Reuters, Musk and the Trump administration had spent months managing the Senate confirmation process to balance his administration’s desire to focus on Mars with NASA’s multibillion-dollar strategy to return astronauts to the moon before China in a geopolitical race to the lunar surface.
Jared Isaacman also made history by becoming the first private person to complete a spacewalk in partnership with SpaceX. The spacewalk took place kilometers above Earth.
He also served as co-founder and CEO of Draken International, a defense aerospace company supporting the U.S. Department of Defense and its allies, for more than a decade.
Trump announces ‘Philanthropist, pilot’ on Truth social media...’
Donald Trump said on Truth Social: ‘Tonight, I am pleased to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot and astronaut, as Administrator of NASA.’
“Jared’s passion for Space, his astronaut experience, and his commitment 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 brave new Era,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
The role now must be confirmed by the Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party has a 53-47 majority.
