“Polaris Dawn” Hero Jared Isaacman Confirmed as NASA Administrator
It will be a very exciting time for Isaacman to take the helm. The Artemis II crewed orbit of the Moon is slated for early 2026.
The last time I wrote about billionaire entrepreneur and “Polaris Dawn” hero Jared Isaacman, his nomination to be the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had been pulled by the White House.
Space enthusiasts were crushed. According to The New York Times, President Trump learned that Isaacman had donated to prominent Democrats, which may have contributed to his decision to withdraw his nomination.
Since then, NASA has been headed by the Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy (clearly, Trump is keen on having his team multi-task). And while diverting the leadership to the DOT may have made sense, Duffy can now return to a more Earth-bound focus as Isaacman was renominated and then officially confirmed to head the space agency.
Congratulations to Jared Isaacman on his confirmation as NASA Administrator. 🚀
It’s been an honor to help drive @POTUS’ vision for American leadership in space.
I wish Jared success as he begins his tenure and leads NASA as we go back to the Moon in 2028 and beat China.
— NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy (@SecDuffyNASA) December 17, 2025
A monthslong saga featuring tech billionaire Jared Isaacman — President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again pick to run NASA — has finally come to a close as the Senate confirmed his appointment in a 67-to-30 vote.
Isaacman, a private astronaut and CEO of payments company Shift4, is now set to take the helm at NASA just weeks before the agency is expected to launch Artemis II, a mission that will carry four astronauts around the moon and mark the farthest into space humans have traveled since the Apollo program ended in 1972.
When Trump first selected Isaacman for the NASA role in late 2024, the choice sparked excitement among space industry leaders who view Isaacman as a changemaker.
In May, Isaacman drafted “Project Athena” a roughly 60‑page internal “strategic plan” that lays out an aggressive blueprint for reshaping NASA. It emphasizes reorganizing the agency to cut bureaucracy, shifting more work to commercial partners, and refocusing major programs toward Mars and advanced technologies such as nuclear electric propulsion.
It appears as if he will be moving forward with his vision.
I feel as if thousands of old space contractors cried out in terror, then were suddenly silenced.
I think something amazing has happened. https://t.co/rHzgMIzJ8l pic.twitter.com/47eplkmwx4
— Space Koala (@culpable_mink) December 17, 2025
Mr. Isaacman highlighted three objectives: human space exploration of the moon, Mars and deep space; unlocking a larger space economy; and becoming a “force multiplier” for science missions, tapping into partnerships with commercial companies and academia to bring down costs.
He has received broad support from the space community. “I think that puts NASA back on a good track,” said Todd Harrison, an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, a center right think tank.
That sentiment was shared by Senator Marie Cantwell, Democrat of Washington. On Wednesday, she highlighted the importance of returning NASA astronauts to the moon as she called on senators to support his nomination.
“I am optimistic that Mr. Isaacman will bring a steady hand and clear vision to NASA,” she said. “I hope we can partner together, all of us, to achieve this incredible thing for the American people.”
It will be a very exciting time for Isaacman to take the helm. The Artemis II crewed orbit of the Moon is slated for early 2026.
At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, officials of the Artemis II mission gave a step-by-step briefing of what to expect when four humans journey back to the moon.
It will send NASA’s Cmdr. Gregory Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut mission specialist Jeremy Hansen to the moon, the first time humans visited the rocky satellite since 1972.
Lakiesha Hawkins, acting deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said Artemis II will be a 10-day test flight that may be as early as Feb. 5, 2026, or further out, like April 2026.
Hawkins said the launch date all depends on a variety of things, such as the position the moon is from Earth, technical readiness and even Earth and space weather.
💡ARTEMIS 2 UPDATE – NASA/CSA/ESA officially targeting the week of February 6th for Artemis 2 launch to the Moon!
"The first launch window…during the week of February 6…Thereafter, we are planning one launch window per month for the following months." – Canadian Space Agency… pic.twitter.com/LaaUeoG1QL
— The Launch Pad (@TLPN_Official) December 17, 2025
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Comments
He’s a Musk guy, which made Sean dislike him immediately.
Musk and Sean do not like each other other
Heard there was shouting matches between the two
I believe Trump pulled him when Sean sent him the Democratic donation information
It honestly, Trump, Musk and many of the cabinet donated to democrats in the past
Glad he was confirmed. Is he the first astronaut to head NASA? Maybe. Hope
he can pull NASA’s head out of its collective butt and fix it. Not sure that’s
possible, They are probably full of DEI hires and still doing Muslim outreach.
Now that the Space Act has been reformed to allow industry their rightful place in space exploration, the government should get the heck out of it.
NASA is to space exploration exactly what CPB is to journalism — a redundant, wasteful, and constitutionally-unauthorized expenditure,
There is way too much focus on who the NASA Administrator is. It does not matter that much. What does matter is congress and the President. If Congress and the President direct NASA to pursue manned space flight to the moon and to Mars, and if they provide appropriate funding for a realistic mission with a timeline that is worthwhile and relevant to the people that have to pay for it (which means about 10nyears, not 30 years), then it will get done. Otherwise it will be more of the same going around in circles again. Trump’s space plan is only marginally better than Obama’s. Ultimately, Artemis will be cancelled, NASA will remain rudderless and a really cool Administrator simply does not have the authority to fix it. The primary responsibility lies with Congress, not Isaacman.
Once space becomes profitable, government should bow out. Everything in our history that has been successful has been profit driven. Maybe the national Interstate Highway system is the exception.
The interstate system had major military implications. Civilian travel was a nice “side benefit”.
The only thing that kept the interstate highway system from being private in the first place was the network of state and federal property law in a country where most of the land had already been sold and settled. (Sure, that was a pretty big thing.)
Keep in mind that in earlier times, the interstate railroads WERE privately built, mainly because no private entity (other than a few turbulent tribes) owned the vast majority of the geography they had to cross.
Of course, post Kelo, Eisenhower could have just eminent-domained all the property AND outright handed it over to a private contractor to construct, Good times.
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