US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Jared Isaacman as the new chief of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ¡°I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),¡± Donald Trump wrote on X.
¡°Jared will drive NASA¡¯s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in space science, technology, and exploration,¡± the president-elect added.
Forty-one-year-old Isaacman is a serial entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Shift4, a global financial technology company. He is also the co-founder of Draken International, a defence aerospace company supporting the US Department of Defense and its NATO allies.
Isaacman, who is estimated to be worth US$1.9 billion as of September 2024, is also a pilot and astronaut. As a trained fighter pilot, Isaacman set a world record in April 2009 for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet, making the flight in 61:51:15.
His company, Draken International, also operates one of the world's largest fleets of privately owned fighter jets.
Isaacman is also a private astronaut who was part of SpaceX's first private human spaceflight, Inspiration4. Isaacman, along with other crew members¡ªSian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, and Christopher Sembroski¡ªwas launched to space onboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon on September 16, 2021, for a three-day mission. Inspiration4 was funded by his payment processing company, Shift4.
Isaacman was also a part of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, which he commanded in September 2024.
According to Trump, Isaacman¡¯s passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era.
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