Trump's unconventional NASA pick is set to signal Mars intentions in confirmation hearing

Yahoo

09-04-2025

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President Donald Trump's pick to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, is set to make waves by signaling his intention to create a new focus on Mars exploration during his confirmation hearing Wednesday.
Isaacman — the billionaire CEO of payments platform company Shift4 who has twice paid to fly aboard SpaceX capsules — is scheduled to appear before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation beginning at 10 a.m. ET.
During the hearing, Isaacman is likely to face wide-ranging questions about how NASA's priorities might change under his leadership.
For months, the space agency and its commercial and international partners have faced uncertainty about how the Trump administration may seek to realign NASA's missions to focus on Mars, rather than the moon.
If such a shift plays out, it could lead to changes for NASA's Artemis program, which was announced during Trump's first term and marked a renewed focus on lunar exploration. The Artemis I mission, for example, sent a crew-worthy spacecraft on a test flight around the moon in 2022. Artemis ultimately aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface and eventually create a permanent human settlement on the moon.
Notably, however, Mars has long been the destination of choice touted by Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX who over the past year has become a close confidant of Trump and invested at least $260 million in his presidential campaign.
Currently, NASA does not have any concrete plans to send humans to the red planet, though the agency has routinely said it views lunar exploration as an important precursor to Mars missions.
However, according to prepared remarks that were reviewed by CNN, Isaacman plans to tell the committee he will 'prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars.'
'Along the way, we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the Moon and determine the scientific, economic, and national security benefits of maintaining a presence on the lunar surface,' according to Isaacman's prepared opening statement.
GOP lawmakers have been wary of a potential shift in focus and possible changes to NASA's Artemis moon program.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, has publicly emphasized his view that NASA must continue focusing on lunar exploration.
On Monday, for example, he shared on social media platform X a photograph of himself and Isaacman shaking hands in Washington, DC.
'During our meeting, Mr. Isaacman committed to having American astronauts return to the lunar surface ASAP so we can develop the technologies needed to go on to Mars,' Cruz's post read.
'The moon mission MUST happen in President Trump's term or else China will beat us there and build the first moonbase.'
Those remarks stand in contrast to Musk's emphasis on Mars. The SpaceX CEO said in a social media post on X last week, for example, that 'stopping at the Moon simply slows down getting to Mars.'
Exactly how Isaacman will balance appeasing moon and Mars advocates — and how the changes he may implement will shift contract dollars — remains to be seen.
What's certain is that Isaacman, if confirmed, would bring a unique background to the role of NASA administrator. The position is typically occupied by civil servants, engineers, scientists or, more recently, politicians.
Isaacman plans to acknowledge his unconventional credentials to the committee members.
'I am not a typical nominee for this position. I have been relatively apolitical; I am not a scientist and I never worked at NASA,' Issacman plans to tell the committee, according to his prepared remarks. 'I do not think these are weaknesses. In fact, I believe President Trump found them to be strengths. And if confirmed, I will bring all my experience to the greatest adventure in human history — the quest to discover the secrets of the universe.'
If confirmed, Isaacman would be only the fourth of 15 NASA administrators to have actually traveled to space.
Isaacman's nomination has been met with some skepticism, as well as widespread optimism and enthusiasm from space industry leaders.
A group of high-profile former astronauts, for example, cosigned a letter to Senate Commerce committee leadership advocating for Isaacman's approval.
'We believe that Jared Isaacman is uniquely qualified to lead NASA at this critical juncture,' the letter states. 'Jared will be able to apply his vision and business acumen to make NASA a continued leader and fulfill its mission of exploration, inspiration, and discovery while expanding commercial opportunities that benefit all Americans.'
Isaacman is, however, certain to face questions about potential conflicts of interest, as he has invested millions of dollars into SpaceX, and was pursuing a multimission development program with the company. (According to a document outlining his plan to comply with ethics laws, Isaacman said he will resign as CEO of Shift4 Payments but will retain his financial interest in the company — which holds SpaceX stock — if confirmed for the NASA post.)
Isaacman also has a close relationship with Musk, who is heading the recently established Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The initiative has been working to implement sweeping spending cuts and workforce reductions across the federal government. Democratic lawmakers have cried foul over DOGE's interactions with NASA, saying that Musk could use his role at DOGE to curry favor for SpaceX.
The company holds billions of dollars' worth of contracts with NASA and is set to compete for more lucrative deals with the agency in the coming years.
DOGE and NASA also assembled a 'Tiger Team' that worked to pinpoint how the agency might cut spending and downsize its staff. Already, the space agency has shuttered two of its top policy offices and scrubbed references to gender and racial diversity from its websites and communications in response to Trump's executive order to abandon diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The changes have rankled some high-ranking staff and career professionals at NASA.
'There's a massive concern across the agency that, among other issues, we're going to have significant brain drain that will affect not only current missions but engineering and science for generations to come,' one NASA employee told CNN in March.
NASA workers are also bracing for potentially drastic cuts to the space agency's science initiatives.
While NASA is perhaps best known for its human spaceflight endeavors, it's also responsible for carrying out billions of dollars' worth of scientific research — including climate studies and space telescope projects that aim to investigate the origins of the universe.
Some NASA staffers have told CNN they are bracing for workforce reductions and budget cuts to the tune of 50%.
Cuts of that size would 'have devastating consequences for both the country and for NASA,' said George Whitesides, the vice ranking member of the House science committee during a hearing on April 1.
It is not certain at this point, however, that NASA will be expected to make such drastic cuts. The Trump administration has not yet released its budget request, and NASA has not revealed the contents of an agency reorganization plan that leadership — including acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro — hashed out alongside DOGE in March.
Isaacman does plan to name science as one of his top priorities, according to his prepared remarks.
'We will leverage NASA's scientific talent and capabilities to enable academic institutions and industry to increase the rate of world-changing discoveries,' he said. 'We will launch more telescopes, more probes, more rovers and endeavor to better understand our planet and the universe beyond.'
It's also unclear whether Isaacman may seek to implement changes to plans involving other NASA programs, such as the International Space Station.
The football field-size laboratory has continually hosted rotating crews of astronauts for nearly 25 years. NASA has insisted that it must have alternative space stations in orbit around Earth before the agency winds down ISS operations, which cost about $3 billion per year.
But Musk made waves in February when he publicly asserted that the space station has 'served its purpose' and should be disposed of in the next couple of years — far faster than NASA's current timeline to continue the orbiting laboratory's operations through at least 2030.
Isaacman will not comment on the space station in opening remarks, according to his prepared statement.
Other issues he may be asked to address include potential plans to downsize NASA's presence at the nation's capital and move operations to the agency's field centers, rumors that the Trump administration may move to cancel NASA's Space Launch System rocket, and how Isaacman will handle oversight of key SpaceX milestones — including reviews of the company's Starship rocket.