After months of anticipation, on April 9, Jared Isaacman sat before the US Senate and delivered a passionate testimonial, making his case for why he should be the next administrator of NASA.
A true entrepreneur, Isaacman started his first company in 1999 at age 16, a money-transfer service Shift4 Payments. Later, in 2012, he founded Draken International, which now holds the record for being the largest privately-owned air force in the world.
As his fortunes grew, so did his ambitions. In 2021, Isaacman announced the Inspiration4 mission. This collaboration with SpaceX would see Isaacman and three other civilians launched into orbit around Earth, then re-enter several days later. It marked the first fully non-professional astronaut crew to fly to space. With that success behind him, Isaacman continued on to fund the first fully private space program in history: the Polaris Program. Once again, this collaboration with SpaceX would see all civilian crews being sent to space, this time on three separate missions.
As of today, only one of the missions has flown: Polaris Dawn. This historic mission saw Isaacman perform the first ever spacewalk on a private spaceflight, allowing SpaceX to gather valuable engineering data as they continue to iterate.
Given this, it should not have been a surprise when in December of last year, Trump announced his intention to nominate Isaacman as the next administrator of NASA.
Photo by John Kraus
Isaacman’s confirmation hearing was performed by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and was led by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). During the hearing, which lasted over three hours, Isaacman affirmed his commitment to both the Artemis program to return humans to the moon, as well as President Trump’s declaration to send Americans to Mars. Isaacman also repeatedly stated his commitment to NASA’s science objectives, stating bluntly “I’m an advocate for science.”
He repeated his belief that NASA should be focused on the “near-impossible” challenges. The goals that “…no company, organization, or agency anywhere in the world would be able to undertake…” according to Isaacman, “That’s exactly the kind of thing that NASA should be concentrating its resources on.”
While questioning Isaacman, Ted Cruz emphasized China’s space ambitions, stating “…Beijing has been explicit… in stating that China intends to surpass the United States and become the world’s preeminent space power”. Cruz was keen to ensure that Isaacman was serious about countering the moves made by China, making it clear, “[t]he threat from China is very real”.
The hearing comes at a turbulent time for NASA. With Trump back in the White House and Elon Musk focused on Mars, the new administrator may find himself forced to balance the conflicting desires of two branches of government. If he manages this precarious balancing act however, NASA may have a bright future.