Astronauts to stand with NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman at Senate confirmation hearing

4/9/2025 – President Donald Trump’s nominee for NASA Administrator, billionaire space-junkie Jared Isaacman, volition look questions astatine Wednesday’s confirmation proceeding successful beforehand of the Senate Committee connected Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained a database of civilian astronauts that volition beryllium joining Isaacman astatine the hearing, immoderate of whom antecedently traveled on missions to outer space with the 42-year-old entrepreneur. 

Lt. Col. Kidd Poteeta, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and erstwhile Thunderbird pilot, volition beryllium 1 of the astronauts attending successful enactment of the Trump nominee. On the caller September Polaris Dawn spacewalk, Poteet acted arsenic ngo aviator and had worked with Isaacman connected previous spaceflight efforts. 

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Isaacman's all-civilian Inspiration4 ngo volition rise $200 cardinal for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital done a donation based sweepstakes to prime a subordinate of the crew.  (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

Sarah Gillis, a pb abstraction operations technologist astatine SpaceX and 1 of the archetypal pistillate ngo controllers astatine the company, and Anna Menon, a biomedical technologist and pb abstraction operations technologist astatine SpaceX some worked with Isaacman connected the Polaris Dawn ngo and volition beryllium attending the proceeding successful his support. 

The nominee volition besides beryllium joined by erstwhile colleagues down the historical 2021 Inspiration4 ngo - the archetypal civilian-led spaceflight to orbit Earth. Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist and analog astronaut who served arsenic ngo pilot, Chris Sembroski, an aerospace information technologist and U.S. Air Force seasoned who served arsenic ngo specialist, and Hayley Arceneaux, a doc adjunct astatine St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and a pediatric crab subsister who became the youngest American to orbit Earth astatine 29.

Sembroski was talented the spot successful a raffle by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during a fundraising run for the mission, which raised $250 cardinal for the crab halfway successful summation to Isaacman’s idiosyncratic $125 cardinal donation. 

Isaacman volition beryllium introduced to the committee by Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, who told Fox News Digial up of Wednesday’s proceeding that "for astir 70 years, the United States has been astatine the forefront of abstraction exploration. President Trump knows however captious it is to reinvigorate NASA truthful we tin erstwhile again pb the satellite to caller heights, and that’s wherefore helium chose precisely the close antheral for the job: Jared Isaacman."

"A palmy innovator, entrepreneur, pilot, and astronaut, Jared believes successful NASA’s halfway mission," the Montana Senator told Fox. "He has the acquisition and skillset to guarantee we proceed to pb successful the top frontier ever known, and I look guardant to adding NASA Administrator to his already singular resume."

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Workers pressure-wash the logo of NASA connected the Vehicle Assembly Building earlier SpaceX volition nonstop 2 NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, astatine the Kennedy Space Center successful Cape Canaveral, Florida connected May 19, 2020.  (REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo)

Additional Senators person already spoken retired up of the hearing, including Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who posted connected X Monday saying, "During our meeting, Mr. Isaacman committed to having American astronauts instrumentality to the lunar aboveground ASAP truthful we tin make the technologies needed to spell connected to Mars."

"The satellite ngo MUST hap successful President Trump's word oregon other China volition bushed america determination and physique the archetypal moonbase," Sen. Cruz continued. "Artemis and the Moon-to-Mars Program are captious for American enactment successful space!"

Fox News Digital besides obtained Isaacman's opening remarks for the information hearing, wherever helium intends to item the value of multi-planet question and his program to "prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars. Along the way, we volition inevitably person the capabilities to instrumentality to the Moon and find the scientific, economic, and 3 nationalist information benefits of maintaining a beingness connected the lunar surface."

The Trump nominee's remarks besides interaction connected the worth NASA brings to the U.S. "not conscionable to grow our cognition oregon fortify our nationalist security, but to amended each beingness connected Earth and animate the adjacent procreation to scope adjacent further."

"This is wherefore America needs NASA—why the satellite needs NASA—because determination is nary much important concern than inspiring our children to physique a better, much breathtaking future. And the champion mode NASA tin bash that is by delivering connected our ngo and ushering successful a caller Golden Age of Science & Discovery---and we volition not fail."

This handout photograph provided by SpaceX and Polaris connected September 15, 2024 shows Jared Isaacman, Mission Commander, stepping retired of the manned Polaris Dawn mission's "Dragon" capsule aft it splashed down disconnected the seashore of Dry Tortugas, Florida, aft completing the archetypal quality spaceflight ngo by non-government astronauts of the Polaris Program. The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, which made past erstwhile its unit conducted the archetypal spacewalk by non-government astronauts, splashed down disconnected the seashore of Florida aboriginal connected September 15, 2024. The Dragon spacecraft landed successful the water astatine 3:37 americium (0737 GMT), a webcast of the splashdown showed, with a betterment squad deploying successful the pre-dawn acheronian to retrieve the capsule and crew. The capsule was lifted from the h2o and onto the betterment vas fractional a hr later.  (Polaris Program/AFP via Getty Images)

Isaacman whitethorn look questions astir caller reports that SpaceX laminitis and DOGE caput Elon Musk intends to "take over" the abstraction administration, and Congressional Democrats person besides been captious of Musk’s engagement successful abstraction travel. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Florida) and Rep. Gery Connolly (D-Virginia) sent a missive to NASA Chief Legal Officer Iris Lan successful an effort to snuff retired immoderate relation betwixt the world’s richest antheral and U.S. abstraction funding. 

But a elder authoritative astatine NASA Headquarters successful Washington, D.C. told Fox News Digital Tuesday, "NASA's acting administrator, Janet Patro, is starring the bureau nether the Trump administration. Neither Elon Musk nor SpaceX holds immoderate power implicit the agency's priorities." 

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Isaacman amassed his $1.3 cardinal luck arsenic laminitis and CEO of Shift4 payments, a recognition paper outgo processing company. The entrepreneur dropped retired of precocious schoolhouse astatine conscionable 16 aft moving astatine a outgo processing firm, and would yet usage a $10,000 cheque from his gramps to physique a tech empire. 

In examination to the erstwhile NASA Administrator, erstwhile U.S. Senator and Astronaut Bill Nelson, immoderate critics person referred to Isaacman arsenic an outsider. 

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Fox News Digital spoke with NASA Spokesperson Bethany Stevens successful March, who pushed back, saying, "President Trump was besides erstwhile considered an outsider, and the American radical person enactment him backmost into office, conscionable showing however overmuch they admit the concern broadside that helium brings to the table. And Mr. Isaacman besides has a inheritance arsenic an entrepreneur of an highly palmy business."

Preston Mizell is simply a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Danielle Wallace is simply a breaking quality and authorities newsman astatine Fox News Digital. Story tips tin beryllium sent to [email protected] and connected X: @danimwallace.