Jared Isaacman has cleared another hurdle on his way to becoming the next NASA Administrator after the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation gave the billionaire SpaceX customer the nod.

It is the second time Isaacman has reached this point. President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew Isaacman’s nomination for the role earlier in 2025, but has since reinstated it.

Isaacman appeared before the committee last week, expressing concern about capability gaps, competition with other nations, and squeezing the maximum value out of each dollar allocated to NASA.

NASA’s budget is set to be cut dramatically in Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. A document penned by Isaacman around the time of his first nomination in April, dubbed "Project Athena," has recently begun circulating, and calls for more "as-a-service"-type contracts amid a remaking of NASA. Isaacman has described the draft plan as "a living document refined through data gathering post-confirmation."

A full vote of the Senate is now required, and Isaacman could be in the role before 2025 ends.

Several space industry insiders told The Register there were worries about the future within NASA’s centers, but they were prepared to give Isaacman the benefit of the doubt for now. However, one noted "the optimism is colored by the need for survival. Trump is too wild and with ever-changing thoughts to allow any long-term planning."

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Should he make it behind the administrator’s desk this time, Isaacman will inherit an agency facing an uncertain future.

Artemis II is set to carry four astronauts to the Moon and back in the early part of 2026, but the first human lunar landing since the end of the Apollo program does not have a fixed date. Earlier this year, NASA acting administrator Sean Duffy reopened the competition for a lunar lander amid worries that the original winner, SpaceX, was slipping behind schedule. SpaceX responded with some impressive renders, but no detailed timescale for when a lunar landing version of its Starship might be ready.

In July, the Planetary Society described the approximately 50 percent budget cuts mooted for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate as "an extinction-level event."

As such, Isaacman will face a tricky balancing act: ensuring the talent NASA built up over the decades does not drain away amid uncertainties over the agency’s direction and priorities, while also adhering to the realities of future budgets.

Oh, and he’s also committed to relocating a space vehicle (likely Space Shuttle Discovery) to Houston. Good luck with that, Jared. ®