Trump nominates billionaire SpaceX backer Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Jared Isaacman, who led and financed SpaceX's Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn private-astronaut missions, to become the next NASA administrator.

Trump announced Isaacman's nomination in a Wednesday morning Truth Social post.

"Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration," Trump said.

"Over the past 25 years, as the Founder and CEO of Shift4, Jared has demonstrated exceptional leadership, building a trailblazing global financial technology company. He also co-founded and served as CEO of Draken International, a defense aerospace company, for over a decade, supporting the U.S. Department of Defense, and our Allies," he said.

In a Wednesday morning tweet, Isaacman — a billionaire and associate of Trump advisor and SpaceX founder Elon Musk — said he was honored to receive Trump's nomination. On Sept. 10, he and three fellow private astronauts launched inside a Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the Polaris Dawn mission — which featured the first spacewalk performed by commercial astronauts.

"Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history. On my last mission to space, my crew and I traveled farther from Earth than anyone in over half a century," Isaacman said in a Wednesday morning post on X.

"I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun. Space holds unparalleled potential for breakthroughs in manufacturing, biotechnology, mining, and perhaps even pathways to new sources of energy. There will inevitably be a thriving space economy—one that will create opportunities for countless people to live and work in space," Isaacman said.

Bill Nelson, who grew up on Florida's Space Coast, has served as NASA administrator since April 2021. President Joe Biden nominated Nelson — a former Democratic U.S. senator from Florida who served as payload specialist on space shuttle Columbia during the STS-61 mission — for the job.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Trump nominates Elon Musk associate Jared Isaacman to run NASA