Changing course

Donald Trump reappoints Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator

U.S. President's about-face, who, after withdrawing his first nomination, re-proposes the billionaire entrepreneur backed by Elon Musk to lead the space agency.

by Emilio Cozzi

5 November 2025

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

As the early hours of 5 November rolled around in Italy, Donald Trump nominated Jared Isaacman, a private astronaut and entrepreneur very close to Elon Musk, whose friend and client he is, for the Nasa administration.

If confirmed by the Senate, Isaacman will succeed Sean Duffy, US Secretary of Transportation and current acting administrator of the space agency.

"Jared's passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unravelling the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy make him the ideal person to lead Nasa into a bold new era," Trump wrote on his social network, Truth, replicating the same rationale for his first nomination, which took place in December 2024, well before his second White House inauguration. The announcement in fact concludes a political-spatial saga that began with Isaacman's first nomination and continued with the brusque withdrawal of the nomination, again at Trumpian hands, on 31 May, just days before the final Senate vote and in the midst of the rift between the president and Musk, a strong supporter of Isaacman.

The previous

"After a careful review of previous collaborations, I withdraw the nomination of Jared Isaacman as head of NASA," Trump had declared at the time, alluding to the long-standing and well known donations Isaacman had also made to Democratic politicians. It is more likely that the decision depended on the influence of the then head of the White House Office of Personnel Management, Sergio Gor, who took advantage of the disagreement with Musk and his absence in Washington to derail Isaacman's candidacy, in reality never deprived of the support of so many iron-clad Trumpians, such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Today Gor is ambassador to India and, more importantly, Mr. Isaacman's appointment promises a change of approach to space that is highly regarded by private companies, as evidenced by the letter sent in recent hours to the leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee by the Commercial Space Federation: "With decades of experience as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, and commercial space pioneer, Mr. Isaacman is the ideal person to lead NASA at this critical time in the agency's history.

Beating China

The reference, not even too veiled, is to the idea of reverting to traditional space contractors, an idea that the acting administrator, Duffy, has been advocating with increasing vigour, up to the announcement a few days ago of his willingness to reopen the contract for the Artemis programme's first human lunar landing to "beat China" and make up for delays in the development of Starship, the SpaceX spacecraft deputed to return the United States to the Moon.

Recently, there had been a heated competition between Duffy and Isaacman supporters. To form a coalition of traditional contractors and in an attempt to embarrass its competitor, Duffy's team had even leaked a copy of the confidential plan, called 'Project Athena', with which Isaacman would like to reform NASA last week. A move that, today, seems to have backfired like a boomerang.

A new approach

In fact, Isaacman embodies a new approach to space, represented by private companies - SpaceX in the lead - that have disrupted the industry's procurement, access and costs in little more than a decade.

43 years old next February, multi-billionaire founder of the payments company Shift4 Payments and of Draken International, which trains US Air Force pilots, Isaacman bought a series of orbital missions from SpaceX grouped under the name Polaris Program that, on 12 September 2024, made him the first non-professional astronaut in history to perform an extra-vehicular activity, i.e. a 'spacewalk'.

If confirmed at the helm of NASA, he will suddenly become SpaceX's most important customer. From then on, he will not only have to concert his country's science mission agenda, but also reconfigure its human flight programmes, starting with Artemis and President Trump's (and Musk's) Martian ambitions.

His comment on the nomination is, in itself, a manifesto: 'To the innovators who are building the orbital economy,' he wrote in X, 'to the scientists who are pursuing groundbreaking discoveries, and to the dreamers around the world eager to return to the Moon and embark on the great journey beyond: these are the most exciting times since the dawn of the space age, and I firmly believe that the future we have all been waiting for will soon become a reality. And to the best and brightest at NASA, and to all our commercial and international partners, I say we have an extraordinary responsibility, but time is running out.

Speaking of deadlines, in days of shutdown it is impossible to say whether the Senate confirmation can come, as expected, by the end of the year. If not, the process may drag on until next spring.