Donald Trump picks billionaire Jared Isaacman to lead NASA

Isaacman is set to replace former Florida Senator Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator, who President Joe Biden tapped to lead the agency when voted into office. Aside from Polaris Dawn, Isaacman also funded Inspiration 4, a mission that took him and three other non-professional astronauts to space atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in 2021.

“With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to journey to the stars and never settle for second place,” Isaacman wrote on X. “Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth.”

Isaacman joins the other group of unconventional nominees Trump has chosen to head up various government agencies and advisory committees, including the new “Department of Government Efficiency“ led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.