Jared Isaacman confirmed as NASA chief after monthslong tug-of-war

By Jackie Wattles, CNN

(CNN) — A monthslong saga featuring tech billionaire Jared Isaacman — President Donald Trump’s on-again-off-again pick to run NASA — has finally come to a close as the Senate confirmed his appointment in a 67-to-30 vote.

Isaacman, a private astronaut and CEO of payments company Shift4, is now set to take the helm at NASA just weeks before the agency is expected to launch Artemis II, a mission that will carry four astronauts around the moon and mark the farthest into space humans have traveled since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

When Trump first selected Isaacman for the NASA role in late 2024, the choice sparked excitement among space industry leaders who view Isaacman as a changemaker. The nomination also raised concerns about conflicts of interest.

Since founding Shift4 in 1999 at the age of 16, Isaacman has made a name for himself in the space industry by self-funding experimental flights to Earth orbit. He’s flown to space twice — both times in partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Those missions have given Isaacman the perception of a bold risk-taker who is embracing the space industry’s transition away from government-funded projects and toward private-sector enterprise. His supporters hope that, as the head of NASA, he will foster competition among space companies, push them to align with NASA’s goals, and focus the space agency’s own efforts on bleeding edge technologies.

But Isaacman’s nomination is not without controversy.

‘Extremely suspicious’

Some are concerned his ties to Musk and SpaceX run too deep. On Monday, Senator Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, lambasted SpaceX for refusing to disclose how much money Isaacman paid the company for his flights to space.

“This is extremely suspicious. SpaceX has billions to gain from having a friendly NASA administrator, and it seems only fair that the American people understand the extent to which Isaacman and SpaceX are financially intertwined,” Markey said in a Monday statement. “Sometimes if it looks like corruption, sounds like corruption, and smells like corruption, it’s just plain corruption.”

Markey had requested that SpaceX release Isaacman from a non-disclosure agreement that prevented him from directly providing Senators with the information.

Recent financial disclosures also say that Isaacman’s ongoing deal with SpaceX for a program called Polaris is worth more than $50 million. He also reported more than $5 million in capital gains from an investment in SpaceX.

During the hearing, Isaacman sought to downplay his associations with Musk.

“I led two missions to space at SpaceX because it’s the only organization that can send astronauts to and from space since the Shuttle was retired,” Isaacman said. “And in that respect, my relationship is no different than that of NASA.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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