US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Jared Isaacman, a billionaire online payments entrepreneur and the first private astronaut to conduct a spacewalk, as the next head of NASA.
The nod raises questions about potential conflicts of interest, given Isaacman’s financial ties to SpaceX chief Elon Musk, who is set to co-chair a government efficiency commission and is one of Trump’s closest advisors.
Isaacman, 41, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, has emerged as a leading figure in commercial spaceflight through his high-profile collaborations with SpaceX.
He made history in September by stepping out of a Crew Dragon to gaze at Earth from the void of space while gripping the spacecraft’s exterior, during the first-ever spacewalk carried out by non-professional astronauts.
“I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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