Trump Selects Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator
President-elect Donald Trump selected Jared Isaacman as the next NASA administrator. While unlikely to be as contentious as other Trump appointees, Isaacman is a businessman and philanthropist instead of a Washington insider. He is particularly known for having raised over $240 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through fundraising efforts like Inspiration4.
Jared Isaacman founded Shift4 Payments in 1999 and still serves as its CEO. Shift4 Payments provides Point-of-Sale solutions for e-commerce and brick-and-mortar businesses.
He organized Inspiration4 as the first all-civilian spaceflight. Inspiration4 reserved one seat for a sweepstakes for people who donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which Air Force veteran Chris Sembroski won. Geoscientist and entrepreneur Dr. Sian Proctor won another seat as part of a promotion for Shift4 Payments. Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, joined as Medical Officer. Jared Isaacman commanded Inspiration4.
Inspiration4 launched on September 15, 2021, after a months-long runup, including a Super Bowl ad that aired during Super Bowl LV on February 7, 2021. It spent three days in space before splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean just off the Florida coast.
After splashdown, Isaacman went on to organize the Polaris series of spaceflights. This three-flight program is testing new technologies needed for deep space missions. Polaris Dawn launched on September 10, 2024. It featured a “stand-up” EVA that tested a new EVA suit design.
Some elements, like the first commercial EVA, could be reminiscent of NASA’s Gemini Program of the 1960s. The Gemini Program featured NASA’s first EVA, as well as its first rendezvous and docking between two spacecraft. It set the groundwork for the Apollo lunar landings and, eventually, important elements of the Space Shuttle’s support of the International Space Station.
The third Polaris mission is tentatively slated to be the first crewed spaceflight of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft. SpaceX’s goals for Starship include missions to Mars. It has already conducted five uncrewed test flights. Of course, those test flights came with the expected mishaps, including the loss of the Super Heavy booster during the most recent test flight on November 19, 2024. However, the Starship prototype successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean.
Naturally, Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX. As a Trump insider, Musk was recently appointed to a senior position in Trump’s newly proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
This could raise the possibility of Jared Isaacman’s connection to Musk, considering that Isaacman is paying for a few crewed test flights. However, it’s equally possible that Musk considers him another paying customer — just like NASA, which pays SpaceX to ferry astronauts and cargo on the Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon, respectively.
Isaacman will have to wait until Congress can confirm him before taking charge at NASA unless Trump decides to pursue a series of recess appointments. As a career businessman and philanthropist, he’s unlikely to be just another Washington insider who made his career by rubbing elbows with politicians.
