Round 2: Watch Senate hearing for Jared Isaacman's re-nomination as NASA chief on Dec. 3

head shot of a male astronaut wearing a white spacesuit helmet

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump's choice for NASA chief, has commanded two space missions. (Image credit: Polaris Program/John Kraus)

The U.S. Senate will hold a hearing to consider billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman's re-nomination for NASA chief on Wednesday (Dec. 3), and you can watch the action live.

The hearing, before the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, begins Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT).

This will be the second such hearing for Jared Isaacman, a private astronaut who has funded and commanded two SpaceX missions to Earth orbit.

The first occurred in April and seemed to go well, setting Isaacman up for confirmation in early June. But on May 31, President Donald Trump abruptly pulled his nomination, citing Isaacman's past donations to Democratic political candidates and concerns about his relationship with SpaceX boss Elon Musk. (That relationship is purely professional and would not affect his activities as NASA chief, according to Isaacman.)

a man in a spacesuit leans out of a space capsule, with earth in the background — Polaris Dawn commander Jared Isaacman becomes the first private astronaut to perform a spacewalk on Sept. 12, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

If the Senate confirms Isaacman, the founder of the payment-processing company Shift4, he will take the reins from Sean Duffy, who currently serves as the agency's acting administrator. Duffy is a former reality TV star who is also head of the Department of Transportation.

Isaacman won't be the only person appearing before the committee on Wednesday. The senators will also consider the nomination of Steven Haines to be an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis.

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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