Jared Isaacman is back as NASA’s nominated Administrator

President Trump has renominated private astronaut and tech billionaire Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator. This comes as both a surprise and is not at all, beating out Acting Administrator Sean Duffy for the job.

The President announced the nomination through his social media network, Truth Social, at the end of the day Monday. President Trump thanked Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation, for his time as the Acting Administrator of NASA. Duffy was hoping to keep control over the agency as its permanent administrator or make a move to make NASA part of the Department of Transportation.

Isaacman was originally nominated back in January when President Trump took office; however, he became a victim of the public fallout between the President and Elon Musk over the summer. Officially, Isaacman’s nomination was pulled due to concerns over his political donations to Democrats, but it’s widely believed it was due to his close ties to Musk.

During his first nomination run, Isaacman did well. Navigating questions from Senators during his committee hearings and before being pulled, he was expected to pass the full Senate with votes from both sides of the aisle.

Isaacman has been a strong supporter of NASA’s leadership in space exploration and science. One area he has publicly disagreed with the President is on continuing NASA’s science missions. How he plans to navigate this for his second go-around and as Administrator will be interesting to watch.

Neither the President nor Isaacman mentioned the original nomination in their posts.

Space Explored Take

Jared Isaacman has always been a dedicated space advocate, both in exploration programs and in scientific research. While previous takes on Isaacman’s nomination showed concern for his greenness in deal-making with Congress, the way he conducted himself during his interviews and got himself back in the good graces of the President shows he may just have what it takes to deal with Congress.

Isaacman is joined by Matt Anderson, a former Air Force officer nominated to NASA’s Deputy Administrator. Both do not have extensive experience operating within NASA, which could make for a culture shift in the agency.

The biggest question I have about Isaacman’s potential confirmation as NASA Administrator is still his close ties to Elon Musk and SpaceX. Last week, Duffy opened up Artemis 3’s landing contract to SpaceX competitors, something Musk was not happy about. If Duffy decides not to make the decision before Isaacman’s confirmation, that means Isaacman, someone with financial ties to SpaceX through his company Shift4, could decide on a very lucrative contract for the company.

Either way, I feel much more confident in a strong and capable NASA under Isaacman’s leadership than I ever was under Duffy’s.