The nomination of Jared Isaacman as the NASA administrator is now advancing one step closer to confirmation. This comes after the US Senate Commerce Committee voted 19 to 9 in favour of the billionaire and space enthusiast taking administrative control of NASA.

Jared Isaacman To Stay Committed To NASA’s Vision

Jared Isaacman was nominated to take over as NASA administrator by President Donald Trump. Following this nomination, the Donald Trump nominee testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, expressing his full support for NASA’s goals to establish a human presence on or around the Moon.

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This comes at a point where influential names in the US space industry, like Elon Musk are pushing to abandon the agency’s goals in favour of Mars exploration. His support for NASA’s space exploration goals gave him a fine standing before the committee, hence influencing the votes of the committee members.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says, “Our path to predominance in space begins with the Artemis missions. Mr. Isaacman acknowledges this.” According to the senator, this acknowledgement influenced his support for Jared Isaacman’s nomination.

This doesn’t mean that Issacman is trashing plans for Mars exploration; rather, he doesn’t aim to place this as a priority above other existing plans. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) is also in support of the Donald Trump nominee, as his goals align with NASA’s overall objectives.

She says, “A commitment to keeping on to the moon mission is the key requirement that we have to have in this position.” “Mr. Isaacman seems to be committed to the current plan for both lander redundancy and Space Launch System, and returning to the moon as fast as possible,” she adds.

What Is Next For Jared Isaacman?

Despite an impressive victory in the committee’s votes, some senators weren’t in support of Jared Isaacman’s nomination. 9 committee members voted against the advancement of the billionaire’s nomination.

These senators and committee members are all Democrats, but none of them gave reasons for not supporting this motion. The 9 votes against this motion were from Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Ed Markey (Mass.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), John Fetterman (Penn.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.).

However, with 19 committee members in support of the motion, it’ll move over to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. There is a high chance that the nomination will also successfully pass full Senate voting.
The Republicans seem to be in unison supporting the appointment of Jared Isaacman as the next NASA administrator. On the side of the Democrats, there seems to be division with some supporting Isaacman while others opposing his nomination.