Trump plans to appoint the first space tourist who has ventured into open space as the head of NASA.

Donald Trump, the elected president of the United States, has nominated Jared Isaacman as the new head of NASA. If the Senate approves the nomination of the experienced pilot and entrepreneur, he will lead the U.S. space agency at a pivotal moment in its 76-year history, as NASA prepares to return humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972, reports The Guardian.

Jared Isaacman, a 41-year-old founder of the private military company Draken International, which trains pilots for the U.S. military, expressed on social media platform X that it is a great honor for him to receive an offer from Trump to head NASA.

Isaacman has experience in space travel, having funded and led two missions for space tourists to low Earth orbit, which were carried out using SpaceX's rocket and spacecraft. This company is owned by Trump associate Elon Musk.

The billionaire organized and commanded the first-ever spaceflight crew composed entirely of space tourists. This was the Inspiration4 mission, during which four individuals spent three days in orbit in September 2021.

Isaacman also organized and commanded the Polaris Dawn mission, during which space tourists spent five days in orbit this September. This mission witnessed the first-ever spacewalk by civilians. At an altitude of 740 km, Isaacman and his flight colleague Sarah Gillis performed the spacewalk. Additionally, the crew of this mission was farther from Earth than any other spacecraft crew since the conclusion of the Apollo lunar program in 1972. Isaacman plans to travel to space again in the near future, this time aboard SpaceX's Starship.

If the Senate confirms Isaacman as the new NASA administrator, he will succeed Bill Nelson, a former astronaut and Democratic senator from Florida, who was appointed by Joe Biden in 2021.

Under Nelson's leadership, NASA has been actively advancing the new lunar program "Artemis," though not without challenges. In 2022, the "Artemis-1" mission took place, during which an uncrewed spacecraft orbited the Moon and returned. Next year, the "Artemis-2" mission is set to occur, during which astronauts will orbit the Moon but not land on it. In the fall of 2026, during the "Artemis-3" mission, NASA astronauts are expected to make the first lunar landing since 1972. It is planned that a woman and a representative of a non-Caucasian race will step onto the lunar surface for the first time.