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management committee Billionaire entrepreneur confirmed on Wednesday Jared Isaacman To become NASA administrator on Wednesday, after a months-long saga he was given the agency’s top job chairman donald trump Canceled his nomination due to feud with tech billionaire Elon Musk,
Isaacman, who has promised to bring a business-minded approach to the space agency, was confirmed 67-30 in a bipartisan vote.
He will take over after an unusual confirmation process due to the Republican president’s checkered and sometimes turbulent relationship with key tech leaders who supported his campaign, notably Tesla CEO Musk, who is a close ally of Isaacman.
Trump chose Isaacman last year, but withdrew the nomination in May after a dispute with Musk over administration policies on issues such as electric vehicles and the performance of Musk’s government efficiency department.
Musk was the largest contributor of donations to Trump’s 2024 campaign and after the administration took charge, he assembled a team for DOGE that worked through federal government departments, contracts, and critical infrastructure. The months-long operation resulted in major cuts to federal contracts focused on foreign aid, global health, and mass layoffs of federal employees.
But this effort did not achieve the stated goal of significantly reducing the federal budget deficit. Musk also feuded with some senior Cabinet officials and eventually Trump himself. Musk is also the CEO of spaceflight company SpaceX and has the ambition to see humans settle in space.
Trump nominated Isaacman again for the post in November. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy served as NASA’s interim administrator until becoming the permanent head.
Mysterious turn from Trump
Isaacman is the founder of Shift4 Payments, a Pennsylvania-based payment processing and technology solutions company. He is also the co-founder of Draken International, a Florida-based aerospace company. He has done business with Musk’s Starlink and other ventures linked to the fellow billionaire.
During Isaacman’s second confirmation hearing in December, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., pressed Isaacman to “explain what happened to cause President Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw your nomination and the assurances you have provided with Elon Musk and SpaceX that this role will not create a significant conflict of interest.”
Isaacman replied that he “wouldn’t even want to begin to guess why the President nominated me and then re-nominated me.” He said he has pledged to remain free from conflict of interest in his role. In a June letter, Isaacman promised to resign from his private sector positions if confirmed as NASA Administrator.
Republicans have welcomed some of Isakman’s proposals and some new senators have strongly advocated for his confirmation. But many Democrats did not agree with Isakman and Trump’s plans, including the proposed costs of some projects and the overall priorities for the agency.
“For nearly 70 years, the United States has been at the forefront of space exploration. President Trump knows how important it is to reinvigorate NASA as we aim to reach new heights in the greatest space ever known, and that’s why he chose exactly the right person for the job,” Senator Tim Sheehy, a Hawaii firefighter, former Navy SEAL and close ally of Isaacman, said in a statement.
Sheehy, R-Mont. He said he was confident that Isaacman “will work tirelessly to ensure that America wins the 21st century space race.”