Polaris Dawn crew members (from left) Anna Menon, Sarah Gillis and Jared Isaacman speak at a panel during the 2024 UP Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas. Credit: UP.Summit
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen private astronaut and billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator.
Trump confirmed the nomination in a post on X on Wednesday.
“Jared will lead NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, pioneering revolutionary achievements in science, technology and space exploration,” Trump wrote in the post. “Over the past 25 years, as founder and CEO of Shift4, Jared has demonstrated exceptional leadership, building a pioneering global financial technology company. He also co-founded and served as CEO of Draken International, a defense aerospace company, for over a decade, supporting the U.S. Department of Defense and our allies.
TO FIND OUT MORE: The Polaris Dawn crew talks mission highlights and next steps
Isaacman, 41, became the first commercial astronaut to perform a private spacewalk in September, when he left a SpaceX capsule hundreds of miles above Earth. The appointment received praise from X CEO Elon Musk, who published a post congratulating Isaacman.
Isaacman thanked Trump for the nomination in a post on X, saying the second space age was just beginning.
“Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so we will improve life here on Earth,” Isaacman said in the post. “It is the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role and work alongside NASA’s extraordinary team to realize our shared dreams of exploration and discovery.”
Editor’s Note: This story first appeared on FLY.
