NASA has a leader. What to know about Isaacman's long path to administrator

NASA has a leader. What to know about Isaacman's long path to administrator

Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY

Thu, December 18, 2025 at 1:17 PM UTC

6 min read

Once ousted from contention to run NASA, Jared Isaacman will officially take over the world's largest space agency.

Don't call it a comeback.

Isaacman, a billionaire who has funded two private missions to space with SpaceX that he also led, had initially seemed like a shoo-in to become the next administrator of NASA. But once President Donald Trump reversed course on his decision to nominate Isaacman, the entrepreneur's road to the leadership position seemed a long-shot – if not impossible.

Then, reports slowly began surfacing that Isaacman was back in the running. And in November, Trump announced that he had decided after all that Isaacman was the best candidate for the job.

Trump's move to renominate Isaacman set the 42-year-old on an accelerated path to a Senate confirmation vote, which came Wednesday, Dec. 17. In confirming Isaacman as NASA's next chief, the Senate has significantly paved the way for a private spacefarer to take the helm of a powerful government space agency.

NASA’s Psyche mission acquired four observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS over the course of eight hours on Sept. 8 and 9, 2025, when the comet was about 33 million miles from the spacecraft. The data, captured by Psyche’s multispectral imager, is helping astronomers both refine the trajectory of 3I/ATLAS and learn more about the faint coma, or cloud of gas, surrounding its nucleus.

This image shows the observation of comet 3I/ATLAS when it was discovered on July 1, 2025. The NASA-funded ATLAS survey telescope in Chile first reported that the comet originated from interstellar space.

A faint image of comet 3I/ATLAS as observed by ESA/NASA’s SOHO mission between Oct. 15-26, 2025. The comet appears as a slight brightening in the center of the image.

This image shows the halo of gas and dust, or coma, surrounding comet 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object ever detected by astronomers as it passes through our solar system. The image was taken on Oct. 9, 2025, by an instrument onboard NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, which has been studying Mars from its orbit since 2014. The instrument, the Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph, takes pictures in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum to reveal the chemical composition of objects.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on Oct. 2, 2025. At the time it was imaged, the comet was about 19 million miles from the spacecraft.

An ultraviolet image composite of the hydrogen atoms surrounding comet 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object ever detected by astronomers, as it passes through our solar system. This image was taken on Sept. 28, just days before the comet’s closest approach to Mars - by an instrument on NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, which has been studying Mars from orbit since 2014.

Comet 3I/ATLAS appears as a bright object near the center of this image, made from combining observations from NASA’s PUNCH mission taken from Sept. 20 to Oct. 3, 2025, when the comet was about 231 million to 235 million miles from Earth. Its tail appears as a short elongation to the right. Stars appear as streaks in the background.

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, circled in the center, as seen by the L’LORRI panchromatic, or black-and-white, imager on NASA’s Lucy spacecraft. This image was made by stacking a series of images taken on Sept. 16, as the comet was zooming toward Mars. Lucy was 240 million miles away from 3I/ATLAS at the time making its way to explore eight asteroids that share an orbit with Jupiter.

This image shows the 3I/ATLAS interstellar comet as a bright, fuzzy orb in the center. Traveling through our solar system at 130,000 miles (209,000 kilometers) per hour, 3I/ATLAS was made visible by using a series of colorized stacked images from Sept. 11-25, using the Heliocentric Imager-1 (H1) instrument, a visible-light imager on the STEREO-A (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft. The colorization was applied to differentiate the image from other observing spacecraft images.

NASA’s SPHEREx space telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS from Aug. 7 to Aug. 15.

Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 277 million miles from Earth. Hubble shows that the comet has a teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust coming off its solid, icy nucleus.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS Aug. 6, with its Near-Infrared Spectrograph instrument

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope observed 3I/ATLAS Nov. 30, with its Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. The image was taken about four months after Hubble's first look at the interstellar comet.

NASA's fleet of telescopes, spacecraft glimpse 3I/ATLAS. See photos of interstellar comet

NASA’s Psyche mission acquired four observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS over the course of eight hours on Sept. 8 and 9, 2025, when the comet was about 33 million miles from the spacecraft. The data, captured by Psyche’s multispectral imager, is helping astronomers both refine the trajectory of 3I/ATLAS and learn more about the faint coma, or cloud of gas, surrounding its nucleus.

Here's everything to know about Isaacman, his commercial missions to space and his long road to becoming NASA administrator.

Who is Jared Isaacman? Billionaire has been to space twice

Jared Isaacman is pictured after returning to Earth following the five-day Polaris Dawn mission in space in September 2024.

Isaacman famously dropped out of school at 16 to start his internet payment processing company Shift4 Payments, which is how he amassed his fortune.

An experienced aviator, Isaacman has also been to space twice – both private missions that he helped fund that launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

His first journey came in 2021, when he was commander of a first-of-its-kind mission known as Inspiration4.

Isaacman then returned to space in September 2024 with an all-civilian crew of amateur spacefarers on a mission known as Polaris Dawn that he jointly funded with SpaceX. During the five-day spaceflight, Isaacman and his crew of three reached a historically high altitude on a SpaceX Dragon capsule and also performed the first-ever commercial spacewalk.

Isaacman confirmed as NASA administrator

Isaacman was confirmed Dec. 17 by the U.S. Senate by a vote of 67-30.

While some senators expressed concerns in hearing about Isaacman's close ties to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, he ultimately received sizable bipartisan support, with 16 Democrats joining 51 Republicans in approving his bid. All 30 votes against his confirmation were from Democrats. Reuters reported.

How long has it been since NASA had a fulltime administrator?

Jared Isaacman, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be administrator of NASA, testifies Dec. 3 during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

NASA has lacked a fulltime administrator since January. Now that he is confirmed, Isaacman will officially succeed Bill Nelson, former President Joe Biden’s pick for NASA administrator and a former astronaut and Democratic U.S. senator from Florida.

What are people saying about Isaacman?

The Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that advocates for space exploration, congratulated Isaacman in a press release, saying he "has the opportunity to stabilize and reinvigorate the U.S. space program." With Bill Nye as its chief executive, the organization has long back Isaacman's bid.

Sean Duffy, who has been serving as NASA's acting administrator since July, said in a post on X that "I wish Jared success as he begins his tenure and leads NASA as we go back to the Moon in 2028 and beat China."

Trump 1st nominated Isaacman 1 year ago

Trump first announced Isaacman’s nomination in a December 2024 post on Truth Social, saying, “Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration.”

Isaacman responded in a post on social media site X saying he was “honored.”

“Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history,” Isaacman said in the post. “I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun.

The nomination was well-received by most of the space community and members of Congress, who appeared poised to officially confirm Isaacman to the post.

Why did Trump change his mind on Isaacman nomination?

But then Trump suddenly pulled the nomination at the end of May during a tense public feud with SpaceX's Musk, the world's richest man and a strong supporter of Isaacman's bid.

Though Trump never offered a concrete reason for the about-face, Isaacman faced some pushback in the Senate for his close ties to Musk at a time when the SpaceX founder was on his way out of the White House. Other reports have suggested Isaacman's past donations to Democrats may have influenced Trumps decision, who said in a statement that "the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda."

Trump then appointed U.S Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in July to perform double duty by also leading NASA as the acting administrator. Duffy in October then drew Musk's Ire when he indicated that NASA would consider lunar lander options from the company's rivals other than SpaceX's Starship for the upcoming Artemis 3 mission.

It will now be up to Isaacman, a close ally of Musk's, to consider whether to re-award a contract first given to SpaceX in 2021.

Trump renominates Isaacman in November

In renominating Isaacman on Nov. 4, Trump said he is "ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era.”

Praising his "passion for space," Trump said in a Truth Social that “I am pleased to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of NASA."

Isaacman thanked Trump on social media and vowed that NASA, under his leadership, will “inspire the world once again.”

"I truly believe the future we have all been waiting for will soon become reality," Isaacman said on social media site X.

What's ahead of Isaacman? Artemis moon missions, budget cuts

Isaacman is poised to take over an agency that is facing looming historic budget cuts as it prepares for its first human moon missions in more than 50 years under the Artemis program.

As NASA's top leader, Isaacman will oversee the world's largest space agency as it prepares to return humans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The U.S. is locked in a heated space race with adversary China to get boots on the lunar surface, and Trump has signaled that he wants to see a moon landing before his second term comes to an end.

Under NASA's Artemis campaign, which has already sent an uncrewed Orion capsule on a moon-orbiting mission in 2022, four astronauts on its Artemis 2 mission are next due in 2026 to embark on a 10-day mission circling the moon. The moon landing itself would then be attempted no earlier than 2027 during the Artemis 3 mission.

NASA astronauts would help establish a permanent lunar settlement that would empower future human missions from the moon to Mars – a planet that has also long been a target destination of Musk and SpaceX.

Contributing: Reuters

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jared Isaacman will be NASA's next head. His long road to confirmation

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