Senate Committee Advances Nomination for NASA Administrator

Jared Isaacman is an entrepreneur and veteran astronaut from the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions. He undertook the first-ever private spacewalk.

(L–R) Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, commander Jared Isaacman, and Sarah Gillis, crew members of Polaris Dawn, a private human spaceflight mission, attend a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 19, 2024. Joe Skipper/Reuters/File Photo

A Senate panel on April 30 approved Jared Isaacman’s nomination to become the next administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The Senate Committee on Communication, Science, and Transportation voted 19–9 to advance the nomination, with several Democratic committee members, including ranking Democratic member Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), voting with their Republican counterparts.

Isaacman’s nomination now heads to the Senate floor, where a final decision will be made.

The entrepreneur and veteran astronaut from the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions, who undertook the first-ever private spacewalk, appeared before the committee on April 9.

He emphasized the need for NASA to fulfill its mission to beat communist China and establish a permanent presence on the moon’s surface and in lunar orbit with the Gateway Space Station and to land an American on Mars.

“I'd like to instill a very strong mission-first culture at the agency,” Isaacman said. “If we can execute on our mission and get to the moon, get to Mars and all the other things, the inspiration, the STEM education will take care of itself, a culture of ownership and accountability that when we make mistakes, we own them, we fix them, and we get back to delivering on their important objectives.”

He affirmed that NASA can pursue the lunar goals of the Artemis II program, along with the Mars landing while the United States gets as much use as possible out of the International Space Station (ISS). He emphasized working with the private sector to ensure that the United States does not give up low-earth orbit to the Chinese Communist Party or Russia after the ISS is deorbited in 2030.

“Space is the ultimate high ground,” Issacman said. “We cannot afford to cede that ground.”

By utilizing the growing the private sector space economy in places like low Earth orbit, NASA will be able to focus on being a pioneering agency, making necessary but not profitable developments, he said.

“NASA’s mission is to undertake the near impossible, to solve the most demanding, complex engineering challenges, to bring commercial industry so commercial industry can follow, and to bring the rest of the world along the way,” Issacman said.

NASA is now led by Acting Administrator Janet Petro, whose tenure over the first 100 days of the second Trump administration has included several milestones highlighted by the agency.

“From expediting the return of American astronauts home after an extended stay aboard the state-of-the-art International Space Station, to bringing two new nations on as signatories of the Artemis Accords, to the historic SPHEREx mission launch that takes us one step closer to mapping the secrets of the universe, NASA continues to lead on the world stage,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said in a statement.

“Here at NASA, we’re putting the America First agenda into play amongst the stars, ensuring the United States wins the space race at this critical juncture in time.”