Billionaire Jared Isaacman Finally Confirmed As Head Of NASA, As Agency Faces Uncertain Future

In his second confirmation hearing, Isaacman rejected the idea that he is Musk’s friend or even ally; however, this is not how the Trump administration saw it. One of the after-effects of the very public feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump was the withdrawal of Isaacman’s nomination by the Trump Administration. Trump then placed Transport Secretary and former Fox News personality Sean Duffy as the head of NASA. The drama did not die down.

The main ambition of the Trump Administration for NASA is to return to the Moon within the president’s second and final term. On the cards, Artemis III will bring astronauts to the Moon in 2027, but crucial to that goal is Elon Musk’s SpaceX and, in particular, Starship. The vehicle experienced numerous setbacks this year, with many spectacular explosions making it very doubtful that SpaceX can deliver on that date.

A few weeks ago, a leaked SpaceX document suggested that September 2028 is a more likely date for a fully tested Starship, still within Trump’s term but barely. For this reason, NASA moved to ask other private companies to step up, which led to a series of childish insults online between Musk and Duffy. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin might be able to step up; its Moon lander vehicle is supposed to be ready by 2030, with testing commencing next year.

Riding this wave, thanks to behind-the-scenes pressure on Trump, Isaacman was renominated. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed him 67-30. Some believe that his industry connections and personal interest in space made him a good candidate for the role, or at least better than most.

Others see in those very connections concerns for the future of the space agency, with less public investment into “daring mighty things.” Some highlighted that the reason for not trusting him was his 24-hour arrest on fraud charges in 2010 and the lawsuits he faced in two states for writing $2 million in bad checks to casinos.

In his original confirmation hearing, Isaacman stressed his intention to continue NASA’s cutting-edge science program. “We will launch more telescopes, more probes, more rovers and endeavor to better understand our planet and the universe beyond,” he said then.

The Trump Administration’s proposed budget for NASA would see all that decimated. When it comes to the Moon landing strategy, Trump wants to cancel vast portions of it, including the Lunar Gateway, the international space station set to orbit the Moon. This is being built with the European Space Agency (ESA), and ESA has recently stated that they are going ahead with it.

The budget has not been approved yet, and based on comments coming out of congressional committees, it will be more in line with what the agency had for this year. That said, a Space.com investigation of cuts to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center revealed that some of the cuts may have already been implemented prematurely (and possibly illegally) during the government shutdown.

There is also the matter of the leaked Project Athena document – a 62-page outline of his plans for NASA – that would see a reorganization of the workforce at NASA, and a change in philosophy at the space agency. This led some senators who supported his nomination earlier in the year, such as Andy Kim (D-NJ), to vote against him.

Despite the Trump administration’s lip service that it wants NASA to reclaim its primacy in space, the agency and other scientific institutions across the US have been damaged significantly over the last 11 months by ideologically motivated attacks. Isaacman steps into the role at a pivotal moment for NASA; the agency’s success and relevance in the future hang in the balance.