US Senate on Wednesday confirmed Elon Musk’s good friend Jared Isaacman with a 67–30 vote to run NASA, closing a long and chaotic nomination fight that left the agency without a permanent leader since Trump’s inauguration.
But oh Jared’s got his work cut out for him, because NASA is dealing with headcount cuts, budget pressure, and a sprint to return American astronauts to the moon before China reaches its own 2030 target right now.
Beijing has said its crew plans to step onto the lunar surface for the first time by then, something Elon seems to be taking quite personal.
Jared built his name through Shift4 Payments, which he founded, and through private flights he funded and flew with SpaceX.
Trump first nominated him last December but pulled the nomination days before the final vote because Jared had donated to Democrats and had ties to Musk. “There were concerns about donations and relationships,” Trump said at the time as he walked the choice back.
But after reconsidering and meeting a new set of candidates in November, Trump brought him back. “I decided he was still the right pick,” he said when announcing the second nomination.
Jared returned to the Senate on Dec. 3 for his second confirmation hearing. Lawmakers pushed him hard on fears that the United States is falling behind China in space leadership. He backed those concerns with a blunt warning: “We cannot risk losing our lead.”He also worked to distance himself from Musk.
“This role demands independence,” he told the panel, trying to shut down talk that SpaceX ties could sway NASA decisions.
After Trump withdrew the first nomination earlier in the year, Jared did not sit back. He launched a push to reclaim the job and donated more than $1 million to pro-Trump groups, according to filings.
Investors are chasing SpaceX exposure via an ETF ahead of IPO
While Jared battled for the NASA seat, a separate surge built around SpaceX. Retail investors scrambled to gain even a small slice of the private company before any public listing.
That rush pushed the ERShares Private-Public Crossover ETF, ticker XOVR, into the spotlight. The fund pulled in more than $470 million since Dec. 8, which is more than half its entire assets.
One reason: A Bloomberg report said Musk aims for a 2026 IPO that could raise over $30 billion and value SpaceX at around $1.5 trillion. Investors saw the ETF as one of the only U.S.-listed ways to access the firm because it holds a tiny piece of SpaceX through a special-purpose vehicle.
The ETF gained that exposure in December 2024. ERShares said it invested over $20 million in SpaceX at the time, giving the holding roughly 12% of the ETF’s assets. SpaceX became its first private stake after the fund changed its name in August 2024 and added private companies to its mandate, which includes public entrepreneurial ventures too.
But as new cash flooded in, the SpaceX slice got diluted to about 4% of assets. Data show it now sits behind Nvidia, Meta, and Maplebear.
ETF.com research head Dave Nadig said the fund values its SpaceX shares at $185. “That price is far below what secondary markets show,” he noted. That low mark keeps the holding small and makes it hard for the ETF to buy more without updating the price.
If SpaceX listed at $420, the price used in a recent secondary sale, the fund’s net asset value would jump about 4%. But Nadig warned that many investors might not keep the full gain because late buyers could see their returns shrink once sellers exit after the IPO.
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