Trump nominates Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of Layer4 who has led two private space flights will become the next head of NASA.

“Jared will advance NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology and exploration,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

Isaacman accepted Trump’s appointment as NASA administrator in a statement: “Having been fortunate enough to see our amazing planet from space, I am thrilled to see America lead the most incredible adventure in human history.”

“It is the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role and to work with the extraordinary team at NASA to achieve our shared dreams of exploration and discovery,” Isaacman said.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is currently led by Administrator Bill Nelson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2021. Nelson did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Nelson, a former U.S. senator, currently oversees NASA’s nearly $25 billion budget. During his tenure, the space agency launched the first unmanned mission as part of its top priority, the multibillion-dollar Artemis lunar program. But subsequent planned manned missions, ultimately aimed at returning U.S. astronauts to the lunar surface, were severely delayed and over budget.

Isaacman has led two private SpaceX spaceflights in 2021 and 2024 and has commanded two crews on multi-day trips around Earth.

His space ambitions have led to an increasingly close relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has become an influential figure in Trump’s administration planning.

In addition to running the payments company Shift4, Isaacman also led an initiative called the Polaris Program – a trio of missions with increasingly ambitious goals.

That program’s first mission, Polaris Dawn, launched earlier this year and saw Isaacman undertake a short spacewalk from SpaceX’s Dragon capsule – the company’s first such extravehicular activity (EVA) in space.

“We all have a lot to do at home, but Earth definitely looks like a perfect world from here,” Isaacman said during the spacewalk after emerging from the capsule.