Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, a veteran private astronaut with close ties to Elon Musk and his rocket company SpaceX, has been nominated by the new Trump administration to be the next NASA administrator, the president-elect said in a statement on Wednesday.

If confirmed, Isaacman, 41, would be the fifth NASA administrator with spaceflight experience, replacing former Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who flew into orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia in early 1986.

“I am pleased to appoint Jared Isaacman, an experienced business leader, philanthropist, pilot and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,” Trump said in a statement on his social media platform Truth Social.

“Jared’s passion for space, his experience as an astronaut and his commitment to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe and advancing the new space economy make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era.”

As a high school student, Isaacman founded a payment processing company that was later called Shift4 Payments. In September 2021, he chartered the first all-commercial, all-civilian American “space tourist” mission – Inspiration4 – and paid SpaceX an undisclosed amount to send him and three other civilians on a two-day, 23-hour flight.

Last September he flew into space again and led the first of three planned SpaceX “Polaris” missions. He spent almost five days in space and led the crew further from Earth than any other astronaut since the Apollo lunar program. Isaacman was also the first private citizen to perform a spacewalk.

He is expected to lead another Polaris mission aboard a SpaceX capsule before leading the first crew into space aboard the California rocket builder’s gigantic Super Heavy Starship rocket.

Dates have not been announced for any of these missions, and it is not yet clear what impact NASA’s appointment as head will have on these flights, whether Isaacman still intends to fly aboard one or both, or the impact of his friendship with Musk could have on NASA’s future direction.

But Isaacman, a veteran pilot who flies his own MiG-29 fighter jet, made clear in a statement following Trump’s announcement that NASA can expect him to be a vocal supporter of space who will help usher in “an era in which… which will make humanity a real space traveler.” Civilization.”

“With President Trump’s support, I can promise you this: We will never again lose our ability to travel to the stars and never settle for second place,” Isaacman said. “We will inspire your children and mine to look up and dream about what is possible. Americans will walk on the Moon and Mars, improving life here on Earth.”

He said it was “the honor of a lifetime to serve in this role and work with NASA’s extraordinary team to achieve our shared dreams of exploration and discovery.”

Jim Bridenstine, Nelson’s predecessor at the helm of NASA, helped launch the agency’s Artemis lunar program during the first Trump administration.

In a statement on Wednesday, he said: “Jared’s vision for pushing boundaries, coupled with his proven track record in the private sector, positions him as the ideal candidate to lead NASA into a bold new era of exploration and discovery.” Senate to quickly confirm him.”

Isaacman’s nomination comes at a time when NASA is struggling to scale up the Artemis program amid tight budgets and what the agency’s inspector general calls “unsustainable” costs for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rocket to stay on course.

SpaceX proponents argue that the company’s more powerful, fully reusable Super Heavy Starship rocket is the obvious choice for space exploration, but the giant rocket is far from operational with just a half-dozen suborbital test flights to its credit.

The SLS, on the other hand, is considered operational because it completed its first test flight in November 2022, sending an unmanned Orion capsule around the moon and back. But unlike the Super Heavy Starship, the SLS is a disposable, expendable booster that is expected to cost more than $2 billion each for its first flights.

NASA is currently preparing to launch three NASA astronauts and a Canadian airman on an SLS Orion mission – Artemis 2 – late next year. But problems with the first Orion’s heat shield and other problems threaten to push the Artemis 2 flight to 2026, years beyond original expectations.

It’s not yet clear when the Artemis 3 mission, the first mission to carry astronauts to land near the moon’s south pole, might be viable.

However, this flight will use a SpaceX-built lunar lander, a variant of the company’s Starship upper stage. SpaceX has conducted six test flights of the fully reusable Super Heavy Starship so far, but has not yet launched the Starship upper stage into orbit or brought it down for an intact landing.

Given the company’s rapid testing plan, most observers expect SpaceX to get the Super Heavy Starship up and running as planned in the near future. However, numerous test flights will be required to demonstrate the safety and reliability required by NASA for carrying astronauts on board.

And the lunar mission presents unique challenges.

The first landing mission requires multiple Super Heavy tanker flights to refuel the lunar lander in low Earth orbit before it can be sent to the Moon. Once in lunar orbit, it will await the arrival of the Artemis-3 crew, which will be launched aboard an Orion capsule by an SLS rocket.

After boarding the Starship lander, two astronauts would descend to the surface, conduct the mission’s planned exploration, and then return to the orbiting Orion to begin the journey back to Earth.