WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.600 Picture this. It's the late 1990s. A 16 -year 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:07.000 -old high school dropout is sitting in a basement 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.640 in New Jersey, basically just hustling to get 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:11.640 a credit card processing business off the ground. 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:14.500 Yeah. Now, I know that sounds like the classic, 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:17.760 almost cliche start to a Silicon Valley tech 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:20.280 startup story, but I want you to fast forward 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:23.620 with me to December of 2025. Right, which is 00:00:23.620 --> 00:00:27.140 quite a jump. Huge jump, because that exact same 00:00:27.140 --> 00:00:31.039 person is now a billionaire. He is personally 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.000 conductive. The first ever private spacewalk 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.439 floating 700 kilometers above the Earth in the 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:40.740 absolute vacuum of space. Just incredible. And 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:43.079 as if that wasn't enough of a resume builder, 00:00:43.259 --> 00:00:46.079 he has just been sworn in as the 15th administrator 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:48.880 of NASA. It is a genuinely cinematic contrast. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:51.090 I mean, you go from a. teenager dropping out 00:00:51.090 --> 00:00:52.869 of high school to set up point -of -sale systems 00:00:52.869 --> 00:00:55.149 for local merchants, all the way to commanding 00:00:55.149 --> 00:00:56.869 the future of the entire American space program. 00:00:57.070 --> 00:00:59.130 The trajectory is just staggering. Welcome to 00:00:59.130 --> 00:01:01.229 a brand new Deep Dive. Today, we are looking 00:01:01.229 --> 00:01:04.409 at a really comprehensive, up -to -date Wikipedia 00:01:04.409 --> 00:01:07.590 article detailing the life and career of Jared 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:10.409 Isaacman, the current head of NASA. That's right. 00:01:10.709 --> 00:01:13.390 Our mission for this Deep Dive is to trace this 00:01:13.390 --> 00:01:16.290 absolutely wild trajectory. We're going to look 00:01:16.290 --> 00:01:18.290 at his journey from tech entrepreneur to commercial 00:01:18.290 --> 00:01:21.430 astronaut. We are going to dissect the unprecedented, 00:01:21.989 --> 00:01:25.349 frankly, chaotic political roller coaster of 00:01:25.349 --> 00:01:27.590 his double nomination to NASA. Oh, it was a roller 00:01:27.590 --> 00:01:29.230 coaster. And we're going to explain what his 00:01:29.230 --> 00:01:32.049 highly controversial project, Athena Blueprint, 00:01:32.209 --> 00:01:35.129 actually means for the future of space exploration. 00:01:35.569 --> 00:01:37.969 Exactly. So whether you consider yourself a massive 00:01:37.969 --> 00:01:40.489 space nerd or you are just fascinated by this 00:01:40.489 --> 00:01:42.430 modern intersection of private wealth and public 00:01:42.430 --> 00:01:45.010 policy, this is your roadmap to the new space. 00:01:45.129 --> 00:01:47.730 age. Okay, let's unpack this. To understand how 00:01:47.730 --> 00:01:49.890 someone gets to the very top of the space program 00:01:49.890 --> 00:01:53.590 without taking the traditional military or scientific 00:01:53.590 --> 00:01:55.849 route, you really have to look at the foundation 00:01:55.849 --> 00:01:58.890 he built as a teenager. Based on our source, 00:01:59.090 --> 00:02:03.010 Isaac Mann was born in New Jersey in 1983. He 00:02:03.010 --> 00:02:05.269 started a computer services business with a friend 00:02:05.269 --> 00:02:07.310 while he was still attending Ridge High School. 00:02:07.489 --> 00:02:08.930 Wait, pause right there. I mean, I know plenty 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:11.210 of teenagers who fix computers for pocket money. 00:02:11.530 --> 00:02:14.370 But the source says he left high school completely 00:02:14.370 --> 00:02:18.590 at age 16. How does a teenager just walk away 00:02:18.590 --> 00:02:21.469 to do this full time? It requires a massive amount 00:02:21.469 --> 00:02:24.310 of drive and, frankly, a bit of rebellion. He 00:02:24.310 --> 00:02:26.210 didn't just dabble in it. He saw an opportunity 00:02:26.210 --> 00:02:28.610 in the nascent tech room and went all in. Right. 00:02:28.729 --> 00:02:32.030 He did eventually earn his GED. And later, I 00:02:32.030 --> 00:02:35.090 think in 2011, he completed a fully online bachelor's 00:02:35.090 --> 00:02:37.289 degree in professional aeronautics from Embry 00:02:37.289 --> 00:02:40.069 -Riddle Aeronautical University. But his real 00:02:40.069 --> 00:02:42.449 education was trial by fire in the business world. 00:02:42.590 --> 00:02:44.789 And that business boom is where the massive wealth 00:02:44.789 --> 00:02:48.430 comes from. In 1999, he founds a company called 00:02:48.430 --> 00:02:52.250 United Bank Card. Today, you might know it as 00:02:52.250 --> 00:02:55.430 Shift 4 Payments. I know he has been the CEO 00:02:55.430 --> 00:02:57.509 since its inception, but give us a sense of the 00:02:57.509 --> 00:03:00.449 scale here. How big did this basement project 00:03:00.449 --> 00:03:03.659 actually get? Massive. To give you an idea of 00:03:03.659 --> 00:03:06.319 the volume we're talking about, by 2020, Shift4 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:10.120 was processing an astonishing $200 billion in 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:13.120 payments annually. Wow. They handle transactions 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.400 for huge swaths of the hospitality and retail 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:19.479 industries. $200 billion. That is hard to even 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:21.800 wrap your head around. But there is a detail 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:24.340 in our source material about Shift4 that seems 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:26.439 incredibly relevant to where he ends up later. 00:03:26.639 --> 00:03:29.379 Yes. Around the time he took shift for public, 00:03:29.659 --> 00:03:32.699 the company began processing payments for SpaceX's 00:03:32.699 --> 00:03:36.020 satellite internet business, Starlink. This is 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:38.740 a massively important connection to Flagg. It 00:03:38.740 --> 00:03:41.300 establishes his early direct business ties to 00:03:41.300 --> 00:03:43.900 Elon Musk and SpaceX long before he was ever 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:46.479 flying in their rockets or eventually regulating 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:48.819 their government contracts. So he's running a 00:03:48.819 --> 00:03:51.460 billion dollar financial empire. But from what 00:03:51.460 --> 00:03:53.120 I read, he wasn't just sitting in a boardroom 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.300 analyzing financial quarters. That guy sounds 00:03:55.300 --> 00:03:57.599 like a total adrenaline junkie. He absolutely 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.319 is. He has an intense obsession with aviation. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:03.879 We are talking about over 7 ,000 logged flight 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:07.419 hours. He even goes by the call sign Rook, which 00:04:07.419 --> 00:04:09.900 he picked up during fighter jet training. I read 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:12.099 that this aviation hobby isn't just a weekend 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:14.520 thing for him. Didn't he actually break a world 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:16.540 record at one point? He didn't just break it. 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:20.720 He shattered it. In 2009, he set a world record 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:23.240 for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet. 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:27.300 It took him 61 hours, 51 minutes, and 15 seconds. 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:30.399 Jeez. He beat the previous record by about 20 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:33.120 hours. Okay, so he likes to go fast. But the 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:35.899 leap from flying light jets to what he did next 00:04:35.899 --> 00:04:38.860 seems huge. He starts getting involved in military 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:41.759 defense. How does a guy who runs a credit card 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:43.819 company suddenly start working with fighter jets? 00:04:44.189 --> 00:04:46.790 That passion for aviation merged with his business 00:04:46.790 --> 00:04:49.569 instincts. In 2012, he co -founded a defense 00:04:49.569 --> 00:04:52.149 aerospace company called Draken International 00:04:52.149 --> 00:04:54.990 down in Florida. They built up one of the world's 00:04:54.990 --> 00:04:57.350 largest fleets of privately owned fighter jets. 00:04:57.589 --> 00:04:59.370 Privately owned? Yeah, and they weren't just 00:04:59.370 --> 00:05:02.550 for show. Draken literally provided adversary 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:06.290 training to U .S. and NATO military pilots. Adversary 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:08.470 training, like playing the bad guys in a Top 00:05:08.470 --> 00:05:11.730 Gun scenario. Exactly. They act as the enemy 00:05:11.730 --> 00:05:15.350 force in training exercises. Isaac Min has claimed 00:05:15.350 --> 00:05:17.629 that by managing these hundreds of millions of 00:05:17.629 --> 00:05:20.189 dollars in defense contracts, his company actually 00:05:20.189 --> 00:05:23.709 saved American taxpayers billions of dollars 00:05:23.709 --> 00:05:26.550 compared to the military using their own planes 00:05:26.550 --> 00:05:28.709 and pilots for this training. That makes sense. 00:05:28.889 --> 00:05:31.310 What's fascinating here is that this isn't just 00:05:31.310 --> 00:05:33.550 a story of a rich guy buying expensive toys. 00:05:33.730 --> 00:05:36.769 It is a proven history of scaling highly technical, 00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:39.870 high stakes operations. Right. Operating a private 00:05:39.870 --> 00:05:42.329 fleet of fighter jets requires rigorous safety 00:05:42.329 --> 00:05:45.209 protocols, deep logistical understanding and 00:05:45.209 --> 00:05:47.430 an ability to interface with massive government 00:05:47.430 --> 00:05:50.430 agencies. All of that perfectly set the stage 00:05:50.430 --> 00:05:52.910 for his next giant leap. And what a leap it was. 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:56.810 In 2021, Isaacman decides the sky isn't the limit 00:05:56.810 --> 00:05:59.750 anymore. He commands Inspiration4. Right. And 00:05:59.750 --> 00:06:01.790 the distinction of Inspiration4 is critical. 00:06:02.129 --> 00:06:05.129 This was an orbital mission on SpaceX's Crew 00:06:05.129 --> 00:06:08.589 Dragon capsule named Resilience. But the defining 00:06:08.589 --> 00:06:10.930 factor is that there were no professional astronauts 00:06:10.930 --> 00:06:14.149 aboard. None at all. Isaacman was the first civilian 00:06:14.149 --> 00:06:17.149 astronaut to command a completely civilian orbital 00:06:17.149 --> 00:06:20.149 mission. They spent three days orbiting the Earth. 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:23.459 And because he is who he is. He didn't just sit 00:06:23.459 --> 00:06:25.100 up there looking out the window. Tell me about 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:26.899 the sports bet, because I was laughing out loud 00:06:26.899 --> 00:06:28.720 when I read that in the source. I know, it sounds 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.160 almost absurd. But yes, while orbiting the Earth, 00:06:31.220 --> 00:06:33.560 he managed to log on and place the first known 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:36.560 sports bets from space. He's up there making 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:39.300 history in the vacuum of space, experiencing 00:06:39.300 --> 00:06:42.579 the profound overview effect of our planet, and 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:45.370 he decides to place a parlay. That is the most 00:06:45.370 --> 00:06:47.810 billionaire civilian thing I have ever heard. 00:06:47.910 --> 00:06:50.209 It really is. It perfectly highlights the civilian, 00:06:50.430 --> 00:06:53.290 almost casual nature of how access to space is 00:06:53.290 --> 00:06:56.170 changing. But we shouldn't overlook the philanthropic 00:06:56.170 --> 00:06:58.750 core of that mission either. He didn't just go 00:06:58.750 --> 00:07:01.689 up for a joyride. He financed the entire trip 00:07:01.689 --> 00:07:04.250 to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:08.230 He pledged $100 million of his own money and 00:07:08.230 --> 00:07:11.509 ultimately helped raise over $250 million in 00:07:11.509 --> 00:07:14.089 total for the hospital. He and his family have 00:07:14.089 --> 00:07:16.529 also signed the Giving Pledge, committing to 00:07:16.529 --> 00:07:19.290 donate at least half of their fortune to philanthropic 00:07:19.290 --> 00:07:22.490 causes. So he gets a taste of space, does some 00:07:22.490 --> 00:07:25.350 immense good for St. Jude, but he doesn't stop 00:07:25.350 --> 00:07:27.850 there. He wants to go back and he wants to go 00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:30.230 further. Much further. Fast forward to September 00:07:30.230 --> 00:07:33.649 of 2024. Isaacman leads the Polaris Dawn mission. 00:07:34.050 --> 00:07:36.629 This was the first flight in his privately funded 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:39.250 Polaris program. Just how far out did they go 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:42.259 this time? They went incredibly far. The four 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:44.939 -person crew reached a peak altitude of 1 ,400 00:07:44.939 --> 00:07:48.420 kilometers. That is about 870 miles. Wow. To 00:07:48.420 --> 00:07:50.220 put that in perspective for you, that is farther 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:52.300 away from Earth than any human has traveled since 00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:55.220 the Apollo moon landings back in the early 1970s. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:57.879 They were flying right through portions of the 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:01.060 Van Allen radiation belts. And reaching that 00:08:01.060 --> 00:08:03.759 altitude wasn't even the main headline. The real 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:06.199 crowning achievement happened on September 12th. 00:08:06.500 --> 00:08:09.699 Isaacman performed the first ever private spacewalk. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.600 Yes. The source notes it was technically called 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:15.420 a stand -up EVA. Break down what that actually 00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:17.660 means for us. It wasn't floating around outside 00:08:17.660 --> 00:08:19.699 the ship on a long tether like George Clooney 00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:21.079 in the movie Gravity, right? Right. It wasn't 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:25.000 a free floating spacewalk. EVA stands for extravehicular 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:28.680 activity. In a stand -up EVA, the entire capsule 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:31.860 is depressurized because the Crew Dragon doesn't 00:08:31.860 --> 00:08:34.759 have a traditional airlock. Got it. The hatches 00:08:34.759 --> 00:08:37.700 opened and Isaacman literally stood up out of 00:08:37.700 --> 00:08:40.159 the hatch, waist deep into the vacuum of space. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:43.279 He was outside testing the mobility of the new 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:45.840 SpaceX suit for seven minutes and 56 seconds, 00:08:46.059 --> 00:08:48.299 followed shortly after by his crewmate, Sarah 00:08:48.299 --> 00:08:50.980 Gillis. I really want you to just imagine being 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:54.360 in that capsule. You are a private citizen. You 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:56.740 aren't a career military astronaut who spent 00:08:56.740 --> 00:08:59.019 three decades training in a government facility. 00:08:59.740 --> 00:09:02.399 You are hundreds of miles above the planet, looking 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.779 down at the curvature of the Earth, wearing a 00:09:04.779 --> 00:09:07.519 suit you helped fund, stepping out of a spacecraft 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.799 operated by a private company. This marks a massive, 00:09:11.980 --> 00:09:15.919 undeniable shift. Space is no longer the exclusive 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.379 domain of government agencies with endless taxpayer 00:09:18.379 --> 00:09:21.029 budgets. Absolutely. Private citizens and private 00:09:21.029 --> 00:09:23.450 capital are now actively pushing the absolute 00:09:23.450 --> 00:09:26.610 boundaries of human exploration. It is a complete 00:09:26.610 --> 00:09:29.429 paradigm shift. And that shift is exactly what 00:09:29.429 --> 00:09:32.009 makes this transition into politics so incredibly 00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:33.990 turbulent. Because when you take a private space 00:09:33.990 --> 00:09:36.730 pioneer, someone used to moving at the speed 00:09:36.730 --> 00:09:38.789 of a startup and put them in charge of a massive 00:09:38.789 --> 00:09:41.870 public space agency, the traditional rules completely 00:09:41.870 --> 00:09:44.350 fly out the window. Which brings us to the political 00:09:44.350 --> 00:09:47.350 roller coaster. In December 2024, Donald Trump 00:09:47.350 --> 00:09:50.429 made Isaac Mann his nominee to serve as the 15th 00:09:50.429 --> 00:09:52.649 administrator of NASA. And right off the bat, 00:09:52.750 --> 00:09:55.350 this was unprecedented. It was. What makes this 00:09:55.350 --> 00:09:57.450 historic is that it was the first time a president 00:09:57.450 --> 00:09:59.490 -elect had ever named a nominee for the head 00:09:59.490 --> 00:10:02.629 of NASA before even taking office. It signaled 00:10:02.629 --> 00:10:05.750 a very aggressive, very early focus on overhauling 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:08.389 the agency. But the nomination immediately hit 00:10:08.389 --> 00:10:11.179 a wall of scrutiny. Critics started raising serious 00:10:11.179 --> 00:10:14.100 alarms. And we should clarify, we're just looking 00:10:14.100 --> 00:10:16.019 at what the source material lays out regarding 00:10:16.019 --> 00:10:18.799 these hearings and the public reaction. We aren't 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:21.000 taking sides here, but both sides were very vocal. 00:10:21.740 --> 00:10:24.019 What were the main concerns being brought up? 00:10:24.620 --> 00:10:27.500 The primary friction point was Isaacman's incredibly 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.700 close ties to Elon Musk and SpaceX. You have 00:10:30.700 --> 00:10:33.259 to remember, SpaceX is NASA's largest contractor. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:35.759 They receive billions in government funding. 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:38.820 Right. Critics feared a massive conflict of interest. 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:41.159 There were widespread concerns that under Isaacman, 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:43.679 NASA might completely abandon the Artemis missions. 00:10:43.940 --> 00:10:46.259 And Artemis is the current NASA program designed 00:10:46.259 --> 00:10:48.259 to return humans to the moon, right? Correct. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.419 The fear was he would scrap Artemis in favor 00:10:51.419 --> 00:10:54.120 of focusing all of NASA's resources on space. 00:10:54.220 --> 00:10:56.659 SpaceX's ultimate ambition, which is landing 00:10:56.659 --> 00:11:00.019 humans on Mars. These fears were only amplified 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:02.840 when Elon Musk publicly suggested decommissioning 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:05.519 the International Space Station and abandoning 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.220 lunar exploration entirely to accelerate Mars 00:11:08.220 --> 00:11:11.100 missions. So lawmakers were incredibly nervous 00:11:11.100 --> 00:11:12.679 about who would actually be calling the shots 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:15.820 at NASA. So Isaacman has to face the Senate in 00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:20.019 a confirmation hearing in April of 2025. How 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:23.340 did he handle that pushback? Did he try to appease 00:11:23.340 --> 00:11:26.620 them? He pushed back hard. He made several firm 00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:29.779 pledges to ease their concerns. He promised to 00:11:29.779 --> 00:11:32.580 completely resign from Shift 4. He promised to 00:11:32.580 --> 00:11:34.620 cancel the remaining Polaris program missions. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:37.600 And he assured lawmakers that the Artemis Moon 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:41.070 program would remain a top priority. But he didn't 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:43.649 just play defense. He went on the offense, critiquing 00:11:43.649 --> 00:11:46.629 the traditional NASA approach. He famously looked 00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:48.690 at the committee and asked, why is it taking 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:51.429 us so long and why is it costing us so much to 00:11:51.429 --> 00:11:53.649 go to the moon? That is a bold thing to ask the 00:11:53.649 --> 00:11:56.399 very politician to control NASA's budget. Very 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.480 bold. But the hearing wasn't all just philosophy 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.559 about space travel. Things got pretty awkward, 00:12:00.620 --> 00:12:02.679 didn't they? Very awkward. The committee grilled 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.539 him heavily on his past. They brought up an incident 00:12:05.539 --> 00:12:07.519 from 2010 where he was arrested at the Canadian 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:10.399 border for fraudulent checks, along with court 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.759 records showing he had been sued four times for 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:15.480 check fraud. Isaac Marion stated clearly to the 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:17.360 committee that those issues were resolved and 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:20.480 were simply past mistakes. Furthermore, Senator 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.039 Ed Markey pressed him on a very specific rumor, 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:25.960 whether Elon Musk was physically present at his 00:12:25.960 --> 00:12:27.960 job interview with President Trump. And how did 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.679 he answer that? He refused to directly answer 00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:33.159 the question, which obviously didn't help alleviate 00:12:33.159 --> 00:12:35.500 the conflict of interest concerns. Despite the 00:12:35.500 --> 00:12:38.080 grilling, he actually passed the Senate committee 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:43.039 vote. He clears the hurdle. But then in May of 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:46.200 2025, just a month after passing committee, the 00:12:46.200 --> 00:12:48.600 White House completely withdraws his nomination. 00:12:49.149 --> 00:12:51.470 Just pulls the plug. Yeah. It was a shocking 00:12:51.470 --> 00:12:54.269 twist. Why did that happen? Our source material 00:12:54.269 --> 00:12:56.809 offers a few different, completely impartial 00:12:56.809 --> 00:12:58.809 perspectives on why this withdrawal happened. 00:12:59.009 --> 00:13:01.289 From the administration's side, President Trump 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:03.470 stated the withdrawal was due to Isaacman's prior 00:13:03.470 --> 00:13:06.269 associations, which was a reference to past political 00:13:06.269 --> 00:13:08.690 donations Isaacman had made to Democratic candidates. 00:13:08.990 --> 00:13:11.450 A White House spokesperson also cited a need 00:13:11.450 --> 00:13:13.470 for the NASA leader to be in complete alignment 00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:16.090 with the America First agenda. OK, so that is 00:13:16.090 --> 00:13:18.519 the official line. But. There were other reports 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:21.179 floating around, too. Yes. Media outlets like 00:13:21.179 --> 00:13:24.139 Ars Technica and Axios recorded a very different 00:13:24.139 --> 00:13:27.059 angle. They cited sources claiming the withdrawal 00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:29.360 had nothing to do with Isaacman's donations, 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.480 but was actually a retaliatory move driven by 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:35.600 Trump adviser Sergio Gore. According to these 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:38.779 reports, the goal was to punish Elon Musk right 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:41.120 around the time Musk had announced he was pulling 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:43.559 back from his role in the administration. Here's 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:46.309 where it gets really interesting. Isaacman didn't 00:13:46.309 --> 00:13:49.470 just take his billions shrug and go home to fly 00:13:49.470 --> 00:13:53.269 his fighter jets. In July of 2025, he gives an 00:13:53.269 --> 00:13:55.190 interview saying he felt like he could still 00:13:55.190 --> 00:13:57.710 help and contribute to the country. He actually 00:13:57.710 --> 00:13:59.929 floated the idea of running for Congress as a 00:13:59.929 --> 00:14:02.409 Republican. He did. He literally said, I don't 00:14:02.409 --> 00:14:05.049 think my story in politics is over. And he was 00:14:05.049 --> 00:14:07.679 right, though. Probably not the way anyone expected. 00:14:07.940 --> 00:14:11.360 Not at all. Because by October 2025, an intense 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:13.500 power struggle began leaking into the press. 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:16.399 Isaacman had secretly been meeting with Trump 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:19.460 to reconsider the NASA nomination. At the exact 00:14:19.460 --> 00:14:22.259 same time, the acting NASA administrator, a man 00:14:22.259 --> 00:14:25.120 named Sean Duffy, was reportedly trying to secure 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.360 the permanent role for himself. Okay. And Duffy 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:30.720 was pushing an idea that shocked the aerospace 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.620 community. He reportedly wanted to fold NASA 00:14:33.620 --> 00:14:35.519 entirely into the Department of Transportation. 00:14:35.580 --> 00:14:38.519 Wait, what? Fold NASA into the Department of 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:41.019 Transportation, the agency that handles highways 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:43.360 and railroads would suddenly be in charge of 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:46.080 exploring the cosmos. That is wild to think about. 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:48.159 It would have been a fundamental dismantling 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:51.259 of NASA as an independent agency. But Isaacman 00:14:51.259 --> 00:14:54.100 ultimately wins that power struggle. On November 00:14:54.100 --> 00:14:57.259 4th, Trump officially renominates him. But the 00:14:57.259 --> 00:14:59.659 drama wasn't over. Of course not. Almost immediately 00:14:59.659 --> 00:15:02.700 after the renomination, a 62 -page leaked internal 00:15:02.700 --> 00:15:05.399 reform proposal hit the public. It was dubbed 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:07.879 Project S***. Athena, and it had been drafted 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:10.200 by Isaacman and his advisers earlier in 2025. 00:15:10.759 --> 00:15:13.879 OK, let's dig into Project Athena, because this 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:16.679 document is essentially his master plan. What 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:18.960 is in it? If we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:15:19.299 --> 00:15:21.759 Project Athena is the blueprint for the total 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:24.720 commercialization of NASA. The document focuses 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:27.799 on three main pillars leading the world in human 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:30.320 space exploration, igniting the space economy 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:33.580 and multiplying science. Those sound like great 00:15:33.580 --> 00:15:36.139 buzzwords. But the way he wants to achieve those 00:15:36.139 --> 00:15:38.720 goals is what caused an absolute uproar in Washington. 00:15:39.100 --> 00:15:41.759 The source mentions several massive changes. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:44.779 Let's start with the big one. He proposes transitioning 00:15:44.779 --> 00:15:47.679 away from traditional cost -plus contracts for 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:49.600 things like the giant SLS rocket and the Orion 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.419 spacecraft. Yes. The biggest bombshell in Project 00:15:52.419 --> 00:15:55.340 Athena is his plan to kill the cost -plus contract. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:15:57.539 If you want to know why traditional aerospace 00:15:57.539 --> 00:16:00.259 contractors were panicking, this is it. Okay, 00:16:00.299 --> 00:16:02.740 break that down for me. What exactly is a cost 00:16:02.740 --> 00:16:04.960 -plus contract and why is getting rid of it such 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:07.399 a massive deal? Think of a cost -plus contract 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:09.919 like giving a builder a blank check to build 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:13.480 you a house. Historically, NASA would go to a 00:16:13.480 --> 00:16:16.840 legacy aerospace company to build a massive project 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:20.559 like the SLS, the Space Launch System, which 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:23.299 is their current heavy lift rocket. Right. The 00:16:23.299 --> 00:16:25.179 government agrees to pay for all the development 00:16:25.179 --> 00:16:27.580 materials and labor costs, plus a guaranteed 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:30.639 percentage of profit on top of that. So if the 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.799 rocket project takes 10 years longer than expected 00:16:33.799 --> 00:16:36.559 and costs billions of dollars more than the original 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:38.860 estimate, the contractor still gets all their 00:16:38.860 --> 00:16:41.039 expenses paid and they still get their guaranteed 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:43.799 profit margin. Precisely. There is almost zero 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:46.379 financial incentive for the contractor to deliver 00:16:46.379 --> 00:16:48.960 the rocket on time or under budget. In fact, 00:16:48.980 --> 00:16:51.240 dragging it out can sometimes be more profitable. 00:16:51.340 --> 00:16:54.120 Project Athena basically says those days are 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:56.200 over. We are moving to fixed price contracts. 00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:58.139 You deliver the service. We pay you the agreed 00:16:58.139 --> 00:17:00.830 amount. If you go over. budget you eat the cost, 00:17:00.889 --> 00:17:03.110 not the taxpayer. Which makes total sense when 00:17:03.110 --> 00:17:05.369 you remember Isaacman's background. He comes 00:17:05.369 --> 00:17:07.130 from the ruthless efficiency of the commercial 00:17:07.130 --> 00:17:10.289 sector. He is used to seeing SpaceX build rockets 00:17:10.289 --> 00:17:12.990 in tents in Texas, iterating rapidly, failing 00:17:12.990 --> 00:17:16.269 fast, and keeping costs low. He isn't used to 00:17:16.269 --> 00:17:18.369 giant bureaucracies moving at a snail's pace. 00:17:18.410 --> 00:17:21.000 Exactly. But applying that startup mentality 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:24.500 to a massive traditional government agency, that 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:26.940 is a shock to the system. And it wasn't just 00:17:26.940 --> 00:17:29.579 the contracts. Project Athena also suggested 00:17:29.579 --> 00:17:31.859 repurposing the planned Lunar Gateway Station 00:17:31.859 --> 00:17:35.460 into a nuclear space tug. A nuclear space tug. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:37.779 That sounds like pure science fiction. What does 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:39.920 that mean? The Lunar Gateway was originally planned 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:42.220 to be a small space station orbiting the moon. 00:17:42.750 --> 00:17:45.029 Isaacman's plan suggests changing that architecture 00:17:45.029 --> 00:17:47.990 entirely. Instead of a stationary outpost, he 00:17:47.990 --> 00:17:50.529 wants a tugboat in space powered by a nuclear 00:17:50.529 --> 00:17:52.990 reactor that can efficiently tow heavy cargo 00:17:52.990 --> 00:17:55.730 and habitats between Earth's orbit and the moon's 00:17:55.730 --> 00:17:57.690 orbit. That's fascinating. Again, it is about 00:17:57.690 --> 00:18:00.450 moving faster and being more efficient. And finally, 00:18:00.529 --> 00:18:02.829 the plan calls for massively expanding partnerships 00:18:02.829 --> 00:18:05.230 with commercial space companies, most notably 00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:08.509 SpaceX and Blue Origin. So Isaacman has to go 00:18:08.509 --> 00:18:10.950 back to the Senate and defend this entire radical 00:18:10.950 --> 00:18:13.690 plan in a... confirmation hearing in December. 00:18:14.069 --> 00:18:16.650 How did he convince them? He managed to walk 00:18:16.650 --> 00:18:19.490 a very fine line. He assured lawmakers that he 00:18:19.490 --> 00:18:21.369 would preserve existing congressional priorities 00:18:21.369 --> 00:18:23.589 and wouldn't just tear the agency down overnight. 00:18:23.849 --> 00:18:26.650 He pitched Project Athena not as a destruction 00:18:26.650 --> 00:18:29.809 of NASA, but as an evolution necessary to maintain 00:18:29.809 --> 00:18:32.549 a competitive advantage globally, especially 00:18:32.549 --> 00:18:35.130 against countries like China. May it work. And 00:18:35.130 --> 00:18:38.700 ultimately, he won them over. On December 17th, 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:42.019 2025, he was confirmed by the Senate with a vote 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:45.660 of 67 to 30. He was officially sworn in the very 00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:47.759 next day. And he didn't get a quiet first day 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.519 on the job either. Not at all. On the exact same 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:52.859 day he was sworn in, President Trump signed a 00:18:52.859 --> 00:18:55.779 swooping executive order demanding American astronauts 00:18:55.779 --> 00:18:58.940 return to the moon by 2028 and establishing a 00:18:58.940 --> 00:19:01.599 permanent lunar base with a nuclear reactor by 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:04.519 2030. So what does this all mean? It means you 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:06.460 and I are witnessing a fundamental transformation 00:19:06.460 --> 00:19:10.279 of NASA in real time. The agency is moving away 00:19:10.279 --> 00:19:12.440 from its historical identity as a slow moving, 00:19:12.619 --> 00:19:15.259 traditional government builder of bespoke rockets. 00:19:15.539 --> 00:19:18.279 Under Isaacman, NASA is pivoting to become a 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:20.599 fast paced, commercially driven manager. Right. 00:19:20.740 --> 00:19:22.279 They are shifting from building the hardware 00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:25.119 themselves to buying services from the vibrant 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:27.500 private space sector that Isaacman himself helped 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:30.519 pioneer. It's an incredible story. When you look 00:19:30.519 --> 00:19:34.119 at the entire arc, you have a 16 year old high 00:19:34.119 --> 00:19:37.140 school dropout, who built a massive credit card 00:19:37.140 --> 00:19:40.420 processing empire in a basement, took his wealth 00:19:40.420 --> 00:19:42.619 to buy fighter jets and fund orbital missions, 00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.779 became a billionaire space walker, and now commands 00:19:45.779 --> 00:19:48.500 the future of the American space program. Jared 00:19:48.500 --> 00:19:51.019 Isaacwin represents the ultimate undeniable fusion 00:19:51.019 --> 00:19:53.339 of Silicon Valley tech hustle and massive government 00:19:53.339 --> 00:19:56.190 policy. He brings a pure operator's mindset to 00:19:56.190 --> 00:19:58.930 a massive federal bureaucracy. But his presence 00:19:58.930 --> 00:20:01.250 at the top of NASA, precisely because of his 00:20:01.250 --> 00:20:03.349 deep intertwined ties to the commercial space 00:20:03.349 --> 00:20:06.029 industry, completely blurs the historical lines 00:20:06.029 --> 00:20:08.109 between public interest and private enterprise. 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:10.730 Which brings us to the end of today's deep dive. 00:20:11.069 --> 00:20:13.609 But we want to leave you with a final provocative 00:20:13.609 --> 00:20:16.509 thought. This raises an important question for 00:20:16.509 --> 00:20:19.559 you to consider. As billionaires transition from 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:22.599 simply funding their own private joy rides to 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:24.380 directly controlling the government agencies 00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:27.119 that regulate the cosmos, where do we draw the 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:29.819 line between public exploration meant for all 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:32.440 of humanity and the private ambitions of a few 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:35.500 ultra -wealthy entrepreneurs? Does opening the 00:20:35.500 --> 00:20:37.839 stars to the free market mean we are selling 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:40.420 the sky? It truly is the defining question of 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:43.049 this new space age. Thank you so much for joining 00:20:43.049 --> 00:20:44.910 us on this deep dive into the life and career 00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:47.569 of Jared Isaacman. Keep looking up, keep questioning 00:20:47.569 --> 00:20:49.309 what you read, and we'll catch you on the next 00:20:49.309 --> 00:20:49.490 one.