US Senate committee advances renomination of Jared Isaacman as head of NASA

NASA may finally be on the cusp of regaining official leadership.

Jared Isaacman, the billionaire tech entrepreneur and sponsor of SpaceX's private Polaris spaceflight program, faced a key vote on Monday evening (Dec. 8) before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which determined whether or not to send his nomination as NASA chief to the full Senate. And the vote passed.

"Mr. Isaacman, I know that you are as committed to American supremacy in the final frontier as is this committee and the entire Senate," Committee Chairman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in an emailed statement on Monday evening. "My hope is that you will be confirmed and in this role before the end of this year."

The hearing began Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET (2230 GMT). The Senate committee had said the proceedings will be broadcast live, but that turned out not to be the case.

Isaacman has flown to space twice. He privately funded both missions, which launched groundbreaking spaceflights aboard SpaceX Crew Dragons. The first, Inspiration4, was also the first all-civilian launch, while his second, Polaris Dawn, included the first civilian spacewalk.

In his nomination hearing before the committee last week, Isaacman faced questions scrutinizing his relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and probing his position on NASA's science and human spaceflight programs. It was Isaacman's second such hearing before the committee, which had the opportunity to press similar questions to him in April, during his first round through the nomination process.

Despite a positive and mostly bipartisan reception by lawmakers, a vote for Isaacman's confirmation earlier this year was halted when President Trump withdrew his nomination in May. Janet Petro, acting NASA Administrator at the time, later ceded the role to Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy when Trump appointed him to the position in July.

Isaacman quietly stepped aside, but little movement was made over the summer to nominate a new NASA chief as Duffy juggled dual roles at the space agency and DOT. Then, an early November report from Politico exposed a 62-page document, known as "Project Athena," outlining Isaacman's vision to outsource certain aspects of NASA to the commercial sector in order to operate a leaner, more efficient agency. A day after that report published, Trump renominated Isaacman for NASA's acting administrator.

In addition to Isaacman, seven other federal appointments face votes this evening, including John DeLeeuw, of Texas, and Michael Graham, of Virginia, to the National Transportation Safety Board, Steven Haines, of Virginia, as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Analysis, Robert Harvey, of Florida, as Federal Maritime Commissioner, Richard Kloster, of West Virginia, to the Surface Transportation Board, Adm. Kevin E. Lunday as Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and McCormack, of Virginia, as Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 6 p.m. ET on Dec. 8 with the news that the hearing will not be webcast after all, then again at 6:45 p.m. ET with the news that the committee had advanced Isaacman's nomination to the full Senate.