” With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to travel to the stars and never settle for second place. […] Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars, and in doing so we will improve life on Earth. “
These words are those of Jared Isaacman whom Donald Trump has just chosen to be the next administrator of NASA. The president-elect of the United States describes him as an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot and astronaut.
The appointment of Jared Isaacman as head of the American Space Agency must still be confirmed by the Senate. If necessary, he will take over from Bill Nelson with a much more political profile. A former Democratic Party senator, Bill Nelson experienced space flight aboard the shuttle Columbia.
The instigator of the Polaris missions
Jared Isaacman, 41, is the founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4. A jet pilot himself, he also co-founded Draken International to train military pilots by providing combat aircraft and services.
The American billionaire is nevertheless best known to the general public for being an adventurer. He financed and commanded the space mission Inspiration4 aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. After this space tourism in low Earth orbit, Jared Isaacman financed and participated in the first mission Polaris Dawn.
Still with SpaceX's Crew Dragon, Jared Isaacman carried out the first private extravehicular spacewalk in history last September. During this mission, he was imitated by engineer Sarah Gillis from SpaceX.
A close friend of Elon Musk (and therefore of Donald Trump)
Jared Isaacman is close to Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX and future co-leader of an advisory committee of the Department of Government Efficiency wanted by Donald Trump within his administration.
Its involvement in private space missions operated by SpaceX will necessarily attract attention, especially since SpaceX is already NASA's largest customer. American senators will undoubtedly consider the question of financial ties. What's more, Jared Isaacman has already been critical of the Space Launch System (SLS) for NASA's lunar missions.
Following Donald Trump's announcement for the appointment of Jared Isaacman as head of NASA, Elon Musk sent him his congratulations, while emphasizing a ” very competent and honest man. “
