Jared Isaacman’s got friends in high places.
More than two dozen former astronauts sent a letter to leaders of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee expressing their support for the NASA administrator nominee—and urging the panel to act quickly to get him in the job.
“Our nation is at a turning point where we face international competition from China, we have the opportunity to promote international cooperation with our partner nations, and we are witnessing radical change in the commercial space sector,” the 28 astronauts wrote in the letter, which was shared last weekend. “We believe that Jared Isaacman is uniquely qualified to lead NASA at this critical juncture.”
How we got here: President Donald Trump announced that he would nominate SpaceX astronaut and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA on Dec. 4. Though it was an unprecedented move to name a NASA nominee before inauguration—a time typically reserved for more high profile appointments such as defense secretary and secretary of state—it was widely seen as a signal that Trump would prioritize space in his second administration.
“With the support of President Trump, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to journey to the stars and never settle for second place,” Isaacman wrote on X at the time. “Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars and in doing so, we will make life better here on Earth.
Trump made it official on Jan. 20, including Isaacman in a batch of nominees sent to Congress on the afternoon of Inauguration Day.
Tick, tock: Isaacman’s nomination has been pending for 64 days, if you count from when the paperwork was formally submitted. That’s all super normal—looking back to 2000, it’s taken 81 days on average from nomination to confirmation for past NASA chiefs, Jack Kiraly, director of government relations at the Planetary Society, previously told us.
Of course, there are always outliers: Jim Bridenstine’s confirmation in Trump’s first administration took 230 days, and Bill Nelson was approved in just 41 days during the Biden administration.
With a Republican-controlled Senate and widespread support for his nomination, Isaacman’s nomination could have been on the shorter end of average. However, it’s likely taking time to unravel his business interests as CEO of Shift4 with the help of ethics officials. He’s also expected to make some major changes at NASA, which could spell trouble for some long-standing programs such as the SLS—which have a lot of support on Capitol Hill because of the jobs they drive in key space states.
The who’s who: Though all of Isaacman’s supporters who signed the letter have flown to space, some have also soared in the commercial space industry.
- Drew Feustel is an advisor at Vast.
- Garrett Reisman is also an advisor at Vast. He previously spent nearly 13 years at SpaceX, leaving in 2024 as a senior advisor.
- Michael Lopez-Alegria is the chief astronaut at Axiom Space and has commanded two private spaceflights for the company.
- Jack Fischer is SVP of production and operations at Intuitive Machines.
- Ron Garan is the CEO of ispace-US.
