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Isaacman said that, if confirmed, he would not be beholden to top Trump advisor Elon Musk. “My loyalty is to the agency,” he said. “They are contractors—they work for us, not the other way around.”
Jared Isaacman is no stranger to members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which oversees NASA. Isaacman, who twice chartered orbital Crew Dragon missions from SpaceX, is a poster child for commercial space and is President Donald Trump’s nominee to head NASA.
- Isaacman floated the idea of “financially self-sufficient” NASA
- He says he would commit to the 2030 ISS deorbit plan
Senators convening for Isaacman’s April 9 confirmation hearing wanted to know what the entrepreneur and private jet fighter pilot has in mind should he be confirmed to head the agency, particularly since the Trump administration is looking to slash budgets and reduce the federal footprint.
Committee Chair Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in his district, questioned Isaacman’s commitment to operate the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2030—as Congress has ordered—as long as it is safe and scientifically feasible. “I will absolutely commit to follow the law,” Isaacman replied, assuaging immediate concerns that he would carry out SpaceX CEO and Trump advisor Elon Musk’s call to deorbit the ISS earlier.
“I think we need to maximize the return the taxpayers have invested in that orbital laboratory, use every bit of time we have to crack the code on the space economy and give commercial [low-Earth-orbit] destinations a fighting chance when they inevitably take over,” Isaacman said.
Senators looking for a similar commitment from the nominee to support NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket received assurances only for the next two flights: Artemis II, slated to send four astronauts on a test run around the Moon in 2026, and Artemis III, which would include the first landing of U.S. astronauts on the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
“I don’t think [the SLS] is the long-term way to get to and from the Moon and to Mars with great frequency, but this is the plan we have now,” Isaacman said, acknowledging the four-member Artemis II crew that NASA had sent to the hearing as a show of support.
Isaacman also punted on plans for NASA’s Gateway, a small base to be located in a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. The Gateway is intended to serve as a staging ground for crew sorties to the lunar surface, an orbital research outpost and a technology testbed, with a particular focus on programs to prepare for future human missions to Mars.
“If I’m confirmed, I would love to roll up my sleeves and get further understanding of . . . the opportunities the Gateway presents to us and where some of the challenges are because I think the Gateway is a component of many programs that are over budget and behind schedule,” he said.
Republicans and Democrats alike queried Isaacman on his support for a sustained U.S. presence in cislunar space and/or the surface of the Moon before embarking on a mission to Mars, the raison d’etre for Musk’s SpaceX. Although the first Trump administration advocated and established the Artemis lunar program, Trump in his second term has echoed Musk’s call for a crewed expedition to Mars.
Amid reports of budget cuts, particularly to NASA’s science programs, Isaacman repeatedly called for NASA to tackle both a crewed return to the Moon and a mission to Mars. In his opening statement, the nominee floated the idea of “potentially charting a course for NASA to become a financially self-sustaining agency.”
Isaacman’s relationship with Musk set the stage for the most contentious part of the hearing, in which the nominee declined to answer if Musk was present when Trump offered the job to Isaacman. Earlier in the hearing, Isaacman said he had not had any communications—no email messages, calls or texts—with Musk since he was nominated to become the NASA administrator.
SpaceX is NASA’s largest contractor after the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.
“I absolutely want to be clear: My loyalty is to this nation, the space agency and their world-changing mission,” Isaacman said. “I have to imagine that in the 1960s, [then-NASA Administrator James Webb] would have taken phone calls and welcomed input from all the various contractors that were contributing to the endeavor. But they’re the contractors. NASA is the customer. They work for us, not the other way around.”
A vote on Isaacman’s nomination has not yet been scheduled.
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