<p>US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Jared Isaacman to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.</p><p>Isaacman, CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments , has been a close associate of Elon Musk and his space company SpaceX for years and leads Polaris, a program using SpaceX vehicles to conduct private astronaut missions in orbit.</p>.Trump's Pentagon nominee Hegseth says he won't back down amid growing doubts.<p>"Jared will drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.</p><p>Isaacman, if confirmed, would oversee a $25 billion agency heavily focused on returning humans to the moon under its Artemis program, a multibillion dollar effort promoted by Trump during his first term that will rely on SpaceX's Starship. </p>
<p>US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Jared Isaacman to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.</p><p>Isaacman, CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments , has been a close associate of Elon Musk and his space company SpaceX for years and leads Polaris, a program using SpaceX vehicles to conduct private astronaut missions in orbit.</p>.Trump's Pentagon nominee Hegseth says he won't back down amid growing doubts.<p>"Jared will drive NASA's mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.</p><p>Isaacman, if confirmed, would oversee a $25 billion agency heavily focused on returning humans to the moon under its Artemis program, a multibillion dollar effort promoted by Trump during his first term that will rely on SpaceX's Starship. </p>