Trump Picks Musk Ally Jared Isaacman to Head NASA

Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on February 2, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (AFP)
Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on February 2, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (AFP)
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Trump Picks Musk Ally Jared Isaacman to Head NASA

Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on February 2, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (AFP)
Inspiration4 mission commander Jared Isaacman, founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, stands for a portrait in front of the recovered first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) on February 2, 2021 in Hawthorne, California. (AFP)

US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Jared Isaacman to lead NASA, selecting a billionaire private astronaut and close associate of Elon Musk to oversee an agency closely linked to the SpaceX founder's business.

Isaacman, CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, has flown to space twice in missions arranged by his Polaris program, an effort using SpaceX vehicles and the company's spacesuits to conduct fully private flights in Earth orbit.

If confirmed, he would oversee the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's roughly $25 billion budget heavily focused on returning humans to the moon under its Artemis program, a multibillion-dollar effort promoted by Trump during his first four-year term that will rely heavily on SpaceX's Starship.

"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.

Trump's pick for NASA came months earlier than past presidential transitions as Musk, SpaceX's CEO and founder, has used his close proximity to the president-elect to discuss missions to Mars and other space exploration matters that could boost SpaceX. Trump attended SpaceX's sixth Starship test launch in Texas last month.

Isaacman, 41, is expected to double down on the agency's strategy to rely on private companies for accessing space, a growing trend at NASA in the past decade that has posed an existential threat to its Space Launch System rocket, a massive, over-budget launch vehicle built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

Isaacman would also command the agency's aeronautics portfolio, which has been funding green aviation concepts, and a sprawling space science unit that has faced layoffs and budget cuts under Democratic President Joe Biden's NASA as it prioritizes the Artemis program.

NASA's last two appointed administrators were former politicians. Trump's first NASA chief, former Oklahoma congressman Jim Bridenstine, launched the Artemis program and persuaded Congress to increase the agency's budget to fund it. Biden appointed former US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida to run NASA.



Iceland Engulfed by Volcanic Cloud

Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS
Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS
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Iceland Engulfed by Volcanic Cloud

Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS
Smoke and lava rise from a volcano eruption near Reykjanes, Iceland, 19 July 2025. EPA/JAKOB VEGERFORS

Iceland experts on Monday blamed a lack of wind for a volcanic cloud that has lingered over much of the island since an eruption last week.

Two craters of a volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula spewed out the sulphur-packed cloud on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The thick haze has left the capital Reykjavik and the southwest of the country in a pollution red alert, the highest level in Iceland's monitoring system.

Hylnur Arnason of the Icelandic Energy and Environment Agency said that volcanic eruptions normally cause air pollution, mainly from the sulphur dioxide that is emitted. The gas becomes sulfate in the atmosphere, creating a volcanic fog.

"It's completely misty in large parts of the country," said Arnason.

"Usually in Iceland we have lots of wind, which would carry the pollution away, but right now we don't," the expert added. "Now it's kind of just sitting over the whole country."

Arnason said the gas was not toxic but could be an "irritant".

The environment agency has recommended that vulnerable people should remain at home and take precautions against the pollution. The wind was expected to start strengthening again late Monday.