Trump’s Pick to Lead NASA Set for Confirmation Hearing Next Week

The committee this week announced the date of Isaacman’s confirmation hearing, about five months after Trump made the pick. The billionaire and SpaceX ally is viewed as an unusual choice to lead NASA, given his limited interactions with the space agency and civil space community.

Nonetheless, Isaacman has received broad support across industry and government. He has flown to space twice on missions purchased from SpaceX—Inspiration4 in 2021 and Polaris Dawn in September, both of which achieved human spaceflight history. Isaacman’s Polaris Program has two further missions on tap with SpaceX, but he has vowed to end those agreements and step down as head of Shift4.

In statements and social media posts, Isaacman has lauded commercial space providers such as SpaceX and Rocket Lab and emphasized U.S. leadership in the final frontier.

Last month, multiple sources told Ars Technica that Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, was the main roadblock to Isaacman’s confirmation hearing. Cruz reportedly took issue with Isaacman’s political donations—many of which have gone to Democrats—and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s call to deorbit the International Space Station (ISS) “as soon as possible.” NASA and SpaceX have already detailed a plan to destroy the ISS at the end of the decade.

Cruz apparently was also concerned that Isaacman might have more interest in going to Mars than the moon. Trump, who signed the Artemis Accords during his first term, said in his inauguration speech that the U.S. would “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars” and plant the American flag on Mars. He made no mention of the moon or missions under the Artemis program, which is years behind schedule and over budget. 

Responding to a post on X from Michael Bloomberg that raised those criticisms, Isaacman said he agreed. But he was also optimistic that commercial providers could help land American astronauts “on the Moon, Mars and beyond.” The Shift4 CEO has also pushed for a Hubble Telescope reboost mission and recently visited the operations center for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, which he has advocated to save from budget cuts.

Last month, a group of governors from states where NASA houses human spaceflight activities, including Florida and Texas, sent Cruz a letter urging Isaacman’s swift confirmation. Alabama governor Kay Ivey sent her own letter praising him.

A group of nearly 30 former NASA astronauts last month endorsed Isaacman as “uniquely qualified to lead NASA at this critical juncture.” Former NASA chief Jim Bridenstine—who served during Trump’s first term—has urged the Senate to move quickly. The Planetary Society, Space Frontier Foundation, and Commercial Space Federation have all backed his nomination.

Isaacman’s confirmation hearing comes as NASA contends with potential mass layoffs and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of terminated contracts, moves that have been widely condemned by the space community. 

In March, he said he did not know anything about the job cuts and insisted that Trump “said he’s targeting fraud, waste & abuse w/ a scalpel—not a hatchet.”

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