Senate to hold hearing for billionaire Jared Isaacman's re-nomination as NASA chief on Dec. 3

head shot of a man in a suit speaking into a microphone inside

Jared Isaacman, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be NASA administrator, testifies during his first Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on April 9, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Jared Isaacman will head back to Capitol Hill early next month.

The U.S. Senate's Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a hearing on Dec. 3 to consider the nomination of the billionaire tech entrepreneur and private astronaut as NASA chief.

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)

Isaacman, who founded the payments company Shift4, has been through this before: He went through a nomination hearing on April 9, 3.5 months after President Donald Trump first tapped him for the top NASA job.

Isaacman was set to be confirmed by Congress in early June, but Trump abruptly pulled his nomination on May 31, citing his past donations to Democratic politicians and supposed closeness to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk.

Isaacman funded, organized and commanded two flights to Earth orbit using SpaceX rockets and capsules — Inspiration4 in September 2021 and Polaris Dawn in September 2024. But he has stressed that his relationship with Musk is a business one, and that he would not give SpaceX any preferential treatment should he be confirmed as NASA chief.

Trump had a change of heart on Nov. 4, announcing that Isaacman is his pick for NASA chief after all. If the nomination process goes smoothly this time around, Isaacman will take over for Acting Administrator Sean Duffy, who also leads the Department of Transportation.

Isaacman won't be the only person getting grilled by senators on Dec. 3. The committee 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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