Citing moon over Mars commitment, Senate committee advances Isaacman nomination to head NASA

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Apr 30, 2025

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NASA could soon have its new leader after a committee Wednesday advanced President Trump’s nomination of billionaire Jared Isaacman to get a confirmation vote by the full Senate.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted 19-9 to allow the two-time space traveler’s nomination to move forward. Isaacman testified before the committee on April 9 and won the support of both committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and the Ranking Member Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington.

The bipartisan support came after Isaacman told the committee that the Artemis missions to the moon would remain a priority despite Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s pushes to refocus on Mars.

“Mr. Isaacman is a successful entrepreneur with a bold, boundary-pushing vision for space exploration. As we heard at his nomination hearing earlier this month, (Isaacman said) ‘NASA was built to do the near impossible.’ I agree, but NASA’s plans for space must remain grounded in reality and align with our strategic interests,” Cruz said during opening comments.

Cruz at the earlier hearings had demanded a commitment from Isaacman to support the current Artemis moon mission plans.

“Existing law directs NASA to establish a ‘sustained human presence in cislunar space or on the moon.’ Federal law explicitly calls the moon a ‘stepping stone to reaching Mars.’ In other words, our path to predominance in space begins with the Artemis missions.”

Cruz said Isaacman had his support because he would follow the law, even though he intends to push for Mars objectives concurrently if confirmed.

Cantwell also threw her support to Isaacman commending both his business and space experience.

“I do think that innovators at this point in time, with a commitment to keeping on to the moon mission, is the key requirement that we have to have in this position,” she said. “While it’s not clear to me where the Trump administration will ultimately end up on the NASA budget, and I have concerns about some of their proposed cuts today, Mr. Isaacman seems to be committed to the the current plan for both lander redundancies, space launch systems and returning to the to the moon as fast as possible.”

Isaacman made his fortune with Shift4, a credit card processing company, and also founded Lakeland-based Draken International, which trains fighter pilots. He funded two missions to space flying on SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft leading the Inspiration4 flight in 2021 and last year’s Polaris Dawn flight.

During the hearing, he testified he wouldn’t call Musk a close friend, and that he was simply a customer. He also said he had had no contact with Musk since he was officially nominated by Trump. He said he would support the current Artemis plans to the moon, which would use the pricey and delayed Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis II flight around the moon as soon as next year followed by a landing mission on Artemis III as soon as 2027.

Launches beyond Artemis III, though, could be up for reconsideration with Isaacman pushing for NASA to use less expensive commercial options such as SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets. Both companies already have lunar landers incorporated into Artemis mission plans.

The threat of China making it to the moon before America’s planned return played heavily for both party members during the confirmation hearings.

“I think this is a very big competitive issue for the United States of America that competitiveness is not just a goal, it’s a reality that someday we may wake up and find ourselves falling behind,” Cantwell said. “So today, I will support his nomination and hope that we will continue to get leadership out of the administration on clarification of supporting a robust NASA budget.”

Isaacman is likely to receive confirmation by the full Senate, but the date for that vote has yet to be set.

If confirmed, he would become the 15th administrator taking over the role vacated by Bill Nelson who left the position at the end of the Biden administration. Janet Petro has been acting administrator, vacating her role as director of Kennedy Space Center, since Trump took office.

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