NASA, long without a leader, is getting plenty of support among the space community for billionaire Jared Isaacman to become President Trump’s leader.
A group of space and science organizations led by the Planetary Society has expressed its support for private space traveler Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.
Earlier in November, in a statement on the Planetary Society’s website, a coalition of nine organizations congratulated Isaacman on being considered again for NASA’s top job.
Isaacman, a billionaire who has led two private companies into space, was President Donald Trump’s original pick to lead NASA before the president backed out in May. Trump reappointed Isaacman to the post in early November.
The Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that advocates for space exploration, leads a coalition that recently praised Isaacman for “his interest in accelerating the pace of scientific missions.” Not only is Isaacman powered by two private space flights that launched from Florida, but he has strong ties to the Sunshine State.
Here’s everything you need to know about Jared Isaacman and the space industry’s general support for the billionaire to run NASA.
The Planetary Society, other space organizations supported Isaacman over the NASA offer
In a Nov. 12 statement, the “Save NASA Science” coalition expressed support for Isaacman, citing his interest in maintaining the agency’s broad portfolio of science missions. The Planetary Society, which leads the coalition, was one of nine science and space organizations that signed the statement.
The coalition’s endorsement comes as Isaacman appears poised to take over an agency threatened by historic budget cuts and job cuts as Trump seeks to cut federal spending. The coalition has vocally opposed the proposal, including on Oct. 6, when leaders of 20 organizations, including Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye, gathered in the U.S. Capitol to urge Congress and other elected leaders to protect NASA funding.
While the coalition said in a statement that its members continue to express deep concern about the cuts, the group also praised Isaacman for “leading space exploration and NASA’s role as a space exploration enterprise.”
“We stand ready to work with the NASA administrator and their leadership team to accelerate scientific discovery, protect U.S. leadership in basic research, and inspire the next generation of innovators,” the statement said.
Who is billionaire Jared Isaacman? How many times has he been to space?
Isaacman, 42, dropped out of school at 16 to start his Internet payments company, Shift4 Payments, where he made his fortune.
Isaacman, a veteran aviator, has also been to space twice — both private missions he helped finance and launched from the Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida.
His first trip came in 2021, when he led the Inspiration4 mission for the first time in his class.
Isaacman then returned to space in September 2024 with a crew of civilian amateur astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission, which he co-funded with SpaceX. During the five-day spaceflight, Isaacman and his crew of three reached a historic altitude aboard the SpaceX Dragon and also completed the first-ever commercial spacewalk.
Isaac had strong ties to Florida
Although Isaacman lives with his family in New Jersey, he spends a lot of time in Florida.
His passion for aviation means he has spent thousands of hours on airplanes. Although he famously dropped out of high school, he eventually received a degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s global distance learning campus in 2011. Isaacman delivered the keynote address at the Daytona Beach campus in December 2024 and was awarded an honorary doctorate at a ceremony.
Isaacman previously formed an air show squadron called the Black Diamond Jet Team out of Lakeland, Florida with Sean Gustafson, formerly of the Thunderbirds, and other retired pilots who performed at NFL games and the Indianapolis 500.
In 2012, the two men took the idea of using retired pilots and founded Draken International, a Lakeland-based pilot training company that makes it possible to train new pilots without leaving current pilots untaught. In 2019, Isaacman sold Draken to private equity firm Blackstone.
Why did Trump appoint Jared Isaacman to lead NASA?
Trump, who first announced Isaacman’s NASa bid in December 2024 on Truth Social, abruptly withdrew the nomination in late May. The decision comes amid a bitter public dispute with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close associate of Isaacman.
Trump then appointed US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in July to do double duty by also acting as head of NASA. as an administrator.
In renominating Isaacman, Trump said he was “ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era.”
Isaacman thanked Trump on social media and vowed that under his leadership, NASA would “inspire the world again.”
NASA has been without a full-time administrator since January. If confirmed, Isaacman will officially succeed Bill Nelson, the former NASA director for President Joe Biden and a former astronaut and Democratic U.S. senator from Florida.
Isaacman would oversee the Artemis moon landing missions
As NASA’s top executive, Isaacman would oversee the world’s largest space agency as it prepares to return humans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The United States is locked in a fierce space race with arch-rival China to get boots on the moon, and Trump has indicated he wants to see a moon landing before the end of his second term.
As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, which has already sent an unmanned Orion capsule on a mission to orbit the moon in 2022, four astronauts from its Artemis 2 mission are scheduled to make their next 10-day orbit around the moon in 2026. Landing on the moon itself will then be attempted in 2027 at the earliest during the Artemis 3 mission.
NASA astronauts would help establish a permanent lunar colony that would enable future human missions from the Moon to Mars.
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at [email protected]