It seems that the saga for the post of head of NASA is over. At least, for now. Because the American Senate has just ratified millionaire and civilian astronaut Jared Isaacman as new administrator of the American space agency … after a vote of 67 to 30. Isaacman is an advocate of missions to Mars and has a good relationship with Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, a company with which he has traveled to space several times and even participated in the first civilian march.
In fact, it appears his relationship with Musk was one of the reasons why US President Donald Trump, who had previously nominated Isaacman for the job, changed his mind ahead of its ratification by the Senate after relations with the SpaceX owner cooled. However, the official version states that the decision was made due to the millionaire’s ties to the Democratic Party, which he financed in previous elections.
“After careful review of my previous associations, I am withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. I will soon announce a new nominee who will be mission-aligned and put America first in space. “Thank you for your attention!” » the US president wrote last May in a brief statement on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Shortly after, Trump appointed Sean Duffy, also Secretary of Transportation, as acting administrator of NASA, who gradually took over. Duffy even threatened that the US space agency would open up to other companies the contract that SpaceX had won for the first missions of the Artemis program due to the delay of the Starship megarocket. Now, with Isaacman at the helm of NASA, things seem to be getting tougher for Musk.
Mars as a target
Isaacman, who will lead a team of 14,000 people, wants to focus on sending missions to Mars, in addition to promoting Artemis, the program with which NASA wants to send astronauts back to the Moon to create the first human settlements. Its intention is to increase the participation of private companies like SpaceX to save money and encourage competition in the private sector.
Of the 67 votes for Isaacman, 16 came from Democrats and 51 from Republicans. The 30 votes against were all Democratic. Some Democratic senators worry that Isaacman’s proximity to Musk, whose company has million-dollar contracts with NASA, could benefit from some policies Isaacman supports.
Isaacman is also seen as someone who wants to accelerate the race to the Moon against China, which plans to send astronauts to the Moon by 2030. NASA aims to arrive in 2028 with the Space Launch System rocket and SpaceX’s Starship rocket as a lander.
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