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Jared Isaacman, billionaire, CEO and nominee to become the next NASA administrator, faced questions on April 9, 2025, from members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation during his confirmation hearing for the position. Should the Senate confirm him, Isaacman will be the first billionairebut not the first astronautto head NASA. Perhaps even more significant, he will be the first NASA administrator with significant ties to the commercial space industry. As a space policy expert, I know that NASA leadership matters. The head of the agency can significantly shape the missions it pursues, the science it undertakes and, ultimately, the outcome of Americas space exploration. An unconventional background At 16 years old, Isaacman dropped out of high school to start a payment processing company in his basement. The endeavor succeeded and eventually became known as Shift4. Though he found early success in business, Isaacman also had a love for aviation. In 2009, he set a record for flying around the Earth in a light jet, beating the previous record by more than 20 hours. While remaining CEO of Shift4, Isaacman founded another company, Draken International. The company eventually assembled the worlds largest fleet of privately owned fighter jets. It now helps to train U.S. Air Force pilots. In 2019, Isaacman sold his stake in Draken International. In 2020, he took Shift4 public, making him a billionaire. Isaacman continued to branch out into aerospace, working with SpaceX beginning in 2021. He purchased a crewed flight on the Falcon 9 rocket, a mission that eventually was called Inspiration4. The mission, which he led, represented the first private astronaut flight for SpaceX. It sent four civilians with no previous formal space experience into orbit. Following the success of Inspiration4, Isaacman worked with SpaceX to develop the Polaris Program, a series of three missions to help build SpaceXs human spaceflight capabilities. In fall 2024, the first of these missions, Polaris Dawn, launched. Polaris Dawn added more accomplishments to Isaacmans resume. Isaacman, along with his crewmate Sarah Gillis, completed the first private spacewalk. Polaris Dawns SpaceX Dragon capsule traveled more than 850 miles (1,367 kilometers) from Earth, the farthest distance humans had been since the Apollo missions. The next adventure: NASA In December 2024, the incoming Trump administration announced its intention to nominate Isaacman for the post of NASA administrator. As NASA administrator, Isaacman would oversee all NASA activities at a critical moment in its history. The Artemis program, which has been in progress since 2017, has several missions planned for the next few years. This includes 2026s Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts to orbit the Moon. Then, in 2027, Artemis III will aim to land on it. But, if Isaacman is confirmed, his tenure would come at a time when there are significant questions about the Artemis program, as well as the extent to which NASA should use commercial space companies like SpaceX. The agency is also potentially facing funding cuts. Some in the space industry have proposed scrapping the Artemis program altogether in favor of preparing to go to Mars. Among this group is the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk. Others have suggested canceling NASAs Space Launch System, the massive rocket that is being used for Artemis. Instead, they argue that NASA could use commercial systems, like SpaceXs Starship or Blue Origins New Glenn. Isaacman has also dealt with accusations that he is too close to the commercial space industry, and SpaceX in particular, to lead NASA. This has become a larger concern given Musks involvement in the Trump administration and its cost-cutting efforts. Some critics are worried that Musk would have an even greater say in NASA if Isaacman is confirmed. Since his nomination, Isaacman has stopped working with SpaceX on the Polaris Program. He has also made several supportive comments toward other commercial companies. But the success of any of NASAs plans depends on having the money and resources necessary to carry them out. While NASA has been spared major cuts u to this point, it, like many other government agencies, is planning for budget cuts and mass firings. These potential cuts are similar to what other agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services have recently made. During his confirmation hearing, Isaacman committed to keeping the Artemis program, as well as the Space Launch System, in the short term. He also insisted that NASA could both return to the Moon and prepare for Mars at the same time. Although Isaacman stated that he believed NASA had the resources to do both at the same time, the agency is still in a time of budget uncertainty, so that may not be possible. About his relationship with Musk, Isaacman stated that he had not talked to Musk since his nomination in November, and his relationship with SpaceX would not influence his decisions. Additionally, he committed to carrying out space science missions, specifically to launch more telescopes, more probes, more rovers. But since NASA is preparing for significant cuts to its science budget, there is some speculation that the agency may need to end some science programs, like the Hubble space telescope, altogether. Isaacmans future Isaacman has received support from the larger space community. Nearly 30 astronauts signed a letter in support of his nomination. Former NASA administrators, as well as major industry groups, have signaled their desire for Isaacmans confirmation. He also received the support of Senator Ted Cruz, the committee chair. Barring any major development, Isaacman will likely be confirmed as NASA administrator by the Senate in the coming weeks. The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation could approve his nomination once it returns from a two-week break at the end of April. A full vote from the Senate would follow. If the Senate does confirm him, Isaacman will have several major issues to confront at NASA, all in a very uncertain political environment. Wendy Whitman Cobb is a professor of strategy and security studies at Air University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
Fast Company is the official media partner of Summit Detroit.From the mouths of most companies, the word community amounts to nothing more than another cliched buzzword drained of any substance. But in some instances, the idea of community is so intrinsic to what the company is and stands for that the meaning behind the word evolves into something more. Its why Jody Levy, CEO of Summit, had a hard time defining the word as it applies to her organization that hosts conferences and immersive experiences around the world. Community is not the right word. Network is not the right word. Tribe is not the right word. None of these words actually describe what being part of Summit feels like and delivers for the people that choose to show up and participate in the ecosystem, Levy says. It’s like choosing to be a node in an interconnected latticework of people across the planet that have certain things in common. Or as Summit cofounder Brett Leve describes it: a mutual aid society for entrepreneurs. If you ask anyone who started a company, on Tuesday it’s a hiring problem. On Friday, it’s a finance problem. The next week it’s a supplier issue, Leve says. There’s all of these things that come up, and there just aren’t a lot of go-to resources or places that train people to address those challenges. That’s where we landed on the concept of community being this panacea. Brett Leve, cofounder of Summit [Photo: Summit] Summit was founded in 2008 by a group of entrepreneurs looking to pool their resources and knowledge with other like minded individuals. Leve, who, at the time, was two years out of college with a business degree, understood he was still limited in what he learned on paper. I don’t think any of that education gave me the tools that I needed to be an entrepreneur, he says. The entrepreneurial journey is so challenging. You need a very broad toolkit in order to address all of those challenges you bump up against. And so Summit was born as an invite-only organization using events as a way to bring members together to both educate them through curated programming touching on wellness, creativity, and beyondbut also to provide a unique atmosphere made to forge new relationships. Summits flagship event heads to Detroit this June 5-8 and promises to create the kind of connections it’s become known for. Take for example Christina Sass who, in 2012 at a Summit event, met someone who would change the course of my life, as she puts it. A fellow Summit member introduced Sass to Jeremy Johnson simply because they both seem interested in the same thing. You two wont stop talking about access to education, Sass recalls the Summit member telling her. You should talk to each other about it. She was absolutely right. [Photo: Summit] Fast forward two years and Sass and Johnson cofounded Andela, a marketplace for software engineers and other technical talent in emerging economies. The company grew to more than 2,000 employees and hit an annual revenue run rate of $50 million within five years of launching. Arturo Nunez, entrepreneur and board member of Estée Lauder and Abercrombie & Fitch, joined Summit in 2012 and says it reinforced his belief that being in the right rooms can change everything. Its not just about who you meet, but the energy, the exchange of ideas, and the way this community encourages you to think bigger, move with intention, and build with purpose, Nunez says. Its a space where people dont just dreamthey execute. [Photo: Summit] And sometimes the connections at Summit are less about front facing networking and more of an internal, personal journey.[Being part of Summit has] simultaneously helped me get over imposter syndrome while giving me a healthy dose of it, says Phillip Cooley, former co-owner of Slows Bar BQ in Detroit. It’s important to remain humble throughout life, but being in spaces with such wonderful people has also fortified my confidence and helped me trust my voice. Its those stories that speak exactly to why Leve and his cofounders created Summit. I’m still as inspired by the concept of it 17 years in as I was when we started, Leve says. Its like a collaborative art project that changes over time. That’s the exciting part about itevery time you add someone into the mix, the whole network becomes stronger.Click here to learn more about Summit and apply to attend Summit Detroit this June 5-8, 2025.
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E-Commerce
On Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, a helicopter flew along the Manhattan skyline for less than 18 minutes before plunging into the Hudson River. The sightseeing helicopter carried a family of five from Spain. Law enforcement confirmed the identity of the passengers to ABC News as Agustin Escobar, an executive from European automation company Siemens, along with his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their three children. The family, along with the pilot, all died in the crash. The helicopter was chartered by the company New York Helicopter, which posted photos of the smiling family inside the aircraft just before it took off. The chopper appeared to be a N216MHa Bell 206L-4, according to a Flight Radar statement posted to X (formerly Twitter). The owner of the company and CEO, Michael Roth, said the pilot of the aircraft had radioed about needing fuel just before the aircraft began flying erratically. He [the pilot] called in that he was landing and that he needed fuel, and it should have taken him about three minutes to arrive, but 20 minutes later, he didnt arrive, Roth told The Telegraph. Safety concerns in the wake of the tragedy The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident, but the tragedy may concern potential future flyers. In the wake of the incident, the helicopter company’s track record is also being scoured, and it seems that a murky financial history, and previous close-calls. According to court records, per The Wall Street Journal, New York Helicopter seemed to be facing financial challenges. Just this February, Wynwood Capital Group, a cash-advance firm, sued the company. It alleged that it had advanced $50,000 to the company in January in exchange for nearly $75,000 in future receivables. But days later, the company was blocked from recouping the money. The outlet also reported that in December, one of the company’s aircrafts was repossessed by PHI Aviation, the company it was leased from for failure to make payments. In 2019, the New York Helicopter filed for bankruptcy. The New York Times also reported that in 2013, in an incident that now appears eerily similar to Thursday’s crash, one of the company’s aircrafts lost power. No one was injured in the incident, but the helicopter was forced to make an emergency “hard landing.” Another emergency situation occurred just two years later, in 2015. An investigation into the incident found that a faulty drive shaft had been painted, so it wasn’t possible to deduce whether it had been involved in a previous hard landing. Investigators called it deliberate concealment and reuse of the faulty component by unknown personnel. While adventurers may not want to swear off taking a helicopter ride just yet, it’s important to note that helicopter tours do come with some risk, and it’s important to research the tour company before booking.Still, according to data from the United States Helicopter Safety Team, crashes are not all that uncommon. Nationwide, there were 89 accidents in 2024, resulting in 30 fatalities. The previous year, there were even more accidents101, but only 29 fatalities as a result.Fast Company reached out to New York Helicopter but did not hear back by the time of publication.
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E-Commerce
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