This article is published in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report part of Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN), and is complimentary through Dec 18, 2025. For information on becoming an AWIN Member to access more content like this, click here.
Jared Isaacman has said that, if confirmed as NASA administrator, he would not be beholden to Elon Musk.
The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee reported favorably on the renomination of Jared Isaacman to become NASA administrator late Dec. 8, moving it on to the full Senate for consideration.
A date for a vote by the full Senate was not included in a NASA release announcing the results of the 5:30 p.m. executive session. But during the committee’s Dec. 3 hearing on Isaacman’s nomination, Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) expressed an intent to see the nomination process completed by year’s end.
The Dec. 3 committee hearing included bipartisan support for the billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut to take the reins at the agency.
Isaacman was initially nominated to be NASA administrator as President Donald Trump was sworn into office on Jan 20. Isaacman cleared an initial Commerce Committee hearing on April 9 and a favorable vote by the committee on April 30 to move the nomination to the full Senate. But the president withdrew the nomination on May 31 over reported political differences with Isaacman.
Trump then reversed course on Nov. 4 with a renomination based on support for Isaacman from policymakers as well as current and former NASA employees. During his second hearing before the Commerce Committee on Dec. 3, Isaacman expressed his commitment to press forward with the return of NASA astronauts to the Moon ahead of China, maintaining an economically significant human presence in low Earth orbit after the International Space Station is deorbited in 2030, and pursuing the agency’s space science objectives.
Related Content
