Trump Taps Billionaire SpaceX Astronaut to Run NASA
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(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump will nominate financial technology billionaire Jared Isaacman, a longtime SpaceX astronaut, to serve as the next NASA administrator.
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If confirmed, Isaacman would oversee a US agency with a roughly $24.8 billion budget and a suite of human and robotic space exploration programs, including the flagship Artemis moon mission. He would replace Bill Nelson, a former US senator from Florida, who has run the agency under outgoing President Joe Biden.
Isaacman’s nomination is likely to provoke concerns he will favor Elon Musk’s SpaceX when it comes to NASA policies and contracting. Isaacman has spent an undisclosed sum of his own money on two SpaceX missions, while the company he runs, Shift4 Payments, has provided SpaceX with $27.5 million in funding.
SpaceX is one of NASA’s biggest partners and frequently bids for the agency’s contracts. Musk was quick to congratulate Isaacman in a social media post.
Trump’s announcement comes about three months after Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis made history by performing the world’s first commercial space walk.
“Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history,” Isaacman wrote in a social media post.
Isaacman is the chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments. The company processes payments for a range of restaurants, resorts, hotels, casinos and stadiums. Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet provider, is also a customer.
In a letter to employees, Isaacman wrote that he would stay on as CEO until his nomination is confirmed and plans to retain the majority of his equity interest in the company. Shares in Shift4 fell as much as 8.4% after Trump’s announcement, the most intraday since Nov. 12.
Isaacman, whose stake in Shift4 has been valued at roughly $1.7 billion, began his relationship with SpaceX in late 2020 while working to make inroads as an investor.
“Jared has demonstrated exceptional leadership, building a trailblazing global financial technology company,” Trump wrote Wednesday on his social media platform when making the announcement.
Isaacman is the latest pick seen as a positive for SpaceX. Last month, Trump nominated as Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who has aligned himself with Musk and at one point advocated for subsidizing Starlink in rural areas.
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