Jared Isaacman testifies in April before Congress during a nominations hearing to become NASA administrator. President Donald Trump, who previously rescinded Isaacman's nomination in May, has renominated him.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman is once again in the running to lead NASA.

President Donald Trump announced in a Tuesday, Nov. 4 post on Truth Social that he is nominating Isaacman for a second time to serve as the administrator of the U.S. space agency. The move comes after Trump in May opted to pull Isaacman from consideration for the post after first nominating the tech mogul in December.

Isaacman, a close associate of SpaceX founder Elon Musk who has been to space on two private missions, thanked Trump on social media and vowed that NASA, under his leadership, will “inspire the world once again.”

News of Isaacman's nomination comes as NASA, which has lacked a permanent leader since January, is preparing for a series of human moon missions – the first since the lauded Apollo era.

Here's everything to know about Isaacman, as well as Trump's renomination of him to lead NASA.

Who is billionaire Jared Isaacman? Did he drop out of high school?

Isaacman, 42, famously dropped out of school at 16 to start his internet payment processing company Shift4 Payments, which is how he amassed his fortune.

With more than 7,000 flight hours of aviation experience, Isaacman is also an aviation enthusiast qualified to fly military fighter jets.

How many times has Isaacman been to space?

Isaacman has been to space twice, both private missions that he helped to fund.

His first jaunt to space came in 2021, when he was commander of a first-of-its-kind mission known as Inspiration4.

By that time, space tourists had already begun taking short trips to the edge of space with companies like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. But Inspiration4 became known as the world’s first all-civilian extended mission to space, with Isaacman, who funded the spaceflight, and three others spending three days living in orbit and conducting research.

Isaacman then returned to space in September 2024 with an all-civilian crew of amateur spacefarers on a mission known as Polaris Dawn that he jointly funded with SpaceX. During the five-day spaceflight, Isaacman and his crew of three reached an historically-high altitude on a SpaceX Dragon and also performed the first-ever commercial spacewalk.

Trump pulled Isaacman nomination amid Elon Musk feud

Trump first announced Isaacman’s nomination in a December post on Truth Social, saying, “Jared will drive NASA’s mission of discovery and inspiration, paving the way for groundbreaking achievements in Space science, technology, and exploration.”

Isaacman responded in a post on social media site X saying he was “honored.”

The nomination was well-received by most of the space community and members of Congress, who appeared poised to officially confirm Isaacman to the post. But then Trump suddenly pulled the nomination at the end of May during a tense public feud with SpaceX CEO Musk, the world's richest man and a strong supporter of Isaacman's bid.

Trump then appointed U.S Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in July to perform double duty by also leading NASA as the acting administrator.

Why did Trump nominate Jared Isaacman again to lead NASA?

In renominating Isaacman, Trump said he is "ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new Era.”

Praising his "passion for space," Trump said in his Truth Social post that “I am pleased to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of NASA."

Isaacman, who would oversee an agency facing looming historic budget reductions and job cuts under Trump's push to slash federal spending, said he has the opportunity to take the helm at "the most exciting times since the dawn of the space age."

"I truly believe the future we have all been waiting for will soon become reality," Isaacman said on social media site X.

If confirmed, Isaacman would officially succeed Bill Nelson, former President Joe Biden’s pick for NASA administrator and himself a former astronaut and Democratic U.S. senator from Florida.

Isaacman would oversee Artemis moon landing missions

As NASA's top leader, Isaacman would oversee the world's largest space agency as it prepares to return humans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The U.S. is locked in a heated space race with adversary China to get boots on the lunar surface, and Trump has signaled that he wants to see a moon landing before his second term comes to an end.

Under NASA's Artemis campaign, which has already sent an uncrewed Orion capsule on a moon-orbiting mission in 2022, four astronauts on its Artemis 2 mission are next due in 2026 to embark on a 10-day mission circling the moon. The moon landing itself would then be attempted no earlier than 2027 during the Artemis 3 mission.

NASA astronauts would help establish a permanent lunar settlement that would empower future human missions from the moon to Mars.

NASA acting head Sean Duffy draws ire of Musk, SpaceX

Isaacman's renomination also comes after Duffy recently drew the ire of SpaceX CEO Musk when he indicated that NASA would consider lunar lander options from the company's rivals.

SpaceX in 2021 was awarded a lucrative contract to develop a configuration of its massive Starship vehicle to meet Artemis 3 astronauts in lunar orbit to ferry them to the moon's surface. But amid concerns that SpaceX has fallen behind schedule, Duffy announced that companies like Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin could compete for the contract instead.

It's unclear how Isaacman, seen as a close ally of Musk, would handle re-awarding the contract.

SpaceX, though, has indicated that it has sent a proposal to NASA for a "simplified" Starship lunar lander plan.

Contributing: Brooke Edwards, Florida Today

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump nominates Jared Isaacman again to lead NASA. What to know about billionaire

Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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