President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman to be the next administrator of NASA.
“Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration,” Trump said Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Isaacman became the first private astronaut to conduct a spacewalk as part of the Polaris Dawn mission.
The mission was a collaboration between the company he runs – the payment processing company Shift4 Payments – and SpaceX, run by Elon Musk. The two billionaires are close associates.
Trump recently named Musk to co-lead a proposed Department of Government Efficiency with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in his new administration.
If Isaacman is confirmed by the Senate, he would oversee the nation’s space agency, its budget of billions of dollars and its contracts with SpaceX.
He will also have oversight of NASA’s Artemis mission, which seeks to send astronauts back to the moon.
