The thrill-seeking billionaire and SpaceX astronaut poised to run Nasa
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Jared Isaacman is President Trump’s pick to run NASA. When Jared Isaacman gave up his childhood dream of becoming a NASA astronaut, he still needed to get his adrenaline fix somewhere.
He found it after dropping out of high school and building startups, becoming a billionaire in the process. He’s flown jet fighters for fun, including a Russian MiG-29. And he’s cultivated a deepening connection with Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX helped Isaacman realize his goal of reaching orbit.
Five months ago, Isaacman popped out of a hatch on a SpaceX-built Crew Dragon craft and into the freezing vacuum of space. The “Polaris Dawn" mission, which Isaacman partly funded, had journeyed farther from Earth than any human mission in decades. The operation tested new SpaceX-designed suits, showcasing how the private sector has moved to the vanguard of advancing human space flight.
It also showed Isaacman’s own appetite for risk. “You’ve got to push boundaries," Isaacman said during a 2021 interview with The Wall Street Journal. “You have to go past where we’re comfortable." President Trump has tapped the entrepreneur to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
If confirmed, Isaacman, 42, would take the controls of a nearly 70-year-old organization with a $25 billion budget that’s synonymous with space exploration but has struggled in recent years to deliver on some high-profile projects, while facing new competition from China in orbit. The job also would require Isaacman to navigate his relationship with Musk, who has a powerful role advising Trump. In a post Thursday on X, Musk said the International Space Station should be taken out of orbit sooner than current plans call for, and
. Read more on livemint.com
