In a groundbreaking development, tech billionaire Jared Isaacman has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to lead NASA. At 41, Isaacman made history by performing the first private spacewalk after purchasing a series of spaceflights from Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Isaacman, the CEO and founder of Shift4, has been a close collaborator with Musk since his inaugural chartered flight with SpaceX in 2021. During that mission, he took contest winners into space and later tested SpaceX's new spacewalking suits by briefly exiting the hatch.
Should his nomination be confirmed, Isaacman will succeed Bill Nelson, 82, a former Democratic senator from Florida who was nominated by President Joe Biden. Nelson is notable for his 1986 flight aboard the space shuttle Columbia, just before the Challenger disaster.
Expressing his gratitude, Isaacman stated, \"Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history.\"
Under Nelson's leadership, NASA has intensified its efforts to return astronauts to the moon through the Artemis program. This next-generation Apollo initiative aims to send four astronauts around the moon as early as next year, marking the first moon landing in over half a century.
NASA relies heavily on SpaceX for transporting astronauts to the lunar surface via the Starship rocket, currently undergoing test flights in Texas. Additionally, SpaceX manages flights to and from the International Space Station, alongside supply runs.
NASA is also advancing its exploration of the solar system with missions to Jupiter's moon Europa and the Mars rover Perseverance, which continues to collect rock and dirt samples. Faced with tight budgets, the agency is seeking innovative and cost-effective methods to return Martian samples to Earth, aiming to reduce the original $11 billion estimate and expedite the timeline beyond 2040.
Jared Isaacman, known by his call sign Rook, has been passionate about space since kindergarten. Despite dropping out of high school at 16, he earned a GED and launched Shift4 from his parents' basement in eastern Pennsylvania. He resides there with his wife and two young daughters.
Isaacman's achievements extend beyond space. In 2009, he set a speed record by flying around the world while fundraising for the Make-A-Wish program. He also founded Draken International, the world's largest private fleet of fighter jets. With reservations for two more SpaceX flights, including leading Starship's first crew into Earth orbit, Isaacman continues to push the boundaries of private space exploration.
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Billionaire who performed the first private spacewalk to lead NASA
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