Isaacman, a commercial astronaut and billionaire, is a longtime friend and business associate of Elon Musk, and Musk had lobbied President Donald Trump directly for his friend’s nomination to the role of NASA chief. Former Deputy Director of the Kennedy Space Center Janet Petro is currently acting as NASA administrator.

The Trump administration also wants to overhaul NASA’s human spaceflight program, ending the Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule initiatives after the Artemis III mission that is to land astronauts on the moon in 2027 and adding money to send astronauts to Mars in the coming years, something that had been a priority for Mr. Musk.