| Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration | |
|---|---|
 NASA seal Constituent part of the administrator's standard | |
 | |
| Reports to | President |
| Seat | Washington, D.C. |
| Nominator | Thepresident with Senate advice and consent |
| Term length | At the pleasure of thepresident |
| Constituting instrument | 51 U.S.C. § 20111 |
| Inaugural holder | Thomas Keith Glennan |
| Salary | $221,900 annually (Executive Schedule II) |
| Website | Official website |
Theadministrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official ofNASA, the nationalspace agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible for providing clarity to the agency's vision and serving as a source of internal leadership within NASA. The office holder also has an important place withinUnited States space policy,[1] and is assisted bya deputy administrator.
The administrator is appointed by thepresident of the United States, with the advice and consent of theUnited States Senate, and thereafter serves at the president's pleasure.Jared Isaacman has served as the administrator since December 18, 2025.[2]
The administrator serves as NASA's chief executive officer, accountable to the president for the leadership necessary to achieve the agency's mission. This leadership requires articulating the agency's vision, setting its programmatic and budget priorities and internal policies, and assessing agency performance.[3]
The first administrator of NASA was Dr.T. Keith Glennan; during his term he brought together the disparate projects in space development research in the US.[4] Glennan presided over an organization that had absorbed the earlierNational Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) intact; its 8,000 employees, an annual budget of $100 million, and three major research laboratories—Langley Aeronautical Laboratory,Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, andLewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory—and two small test facilities made up the core of the new NASA. Within a short time after NASA's formal organization, Glennan incorporated several organizations involved in space exploration projects from other federal agencies into NASA. He brought in part of the Naval Research Laboratory and created theGoddard Space Flight Center. He also incorporated several disparate satellite programs, two lunar probes, and the research effort to develop a million pound force (4.4 MN) thrust, single-chamber rocket engine from theU.S. Air Force and theU.S. Department of Defense's (DOD)Advanced Research Projects Agency. In December 1958 Glennan also acquired control of theJet Propulsion Laboratory, a contractor facility operated by theCalifornia Institute of Technology. In 1960, Glennan obtained the transfer to NASA of theArmy Ballistic Missile Agency, located atHuntsville, Alabama, and renamed it theMarshall Space Flight Center.
The second administrator,James E. Webb, served from 1961 to 1968, from the beginning of theKennedy administration through the end of theJohnson administration, thus overseeing each of the critical first crewed missions throughout theMercury andGemini programs until days before the launch of the first Apollo mission. He also dealt with theApollo 1 fire.[5] During Webb's administration, NASA developed from a loose collection of research centers to a coordinated organization. He had a key role in creating the Manned Spacecraft Center, later theJohnson Space Center, inHouston. Despite the pressures to focus on the Apollo program, Webb ensured that NASA carried out a program of planetary exploration with theMariner andPioneer space programs. Webb was an early champion of space telescopes,[6] like theone that would later bear his name. Encouraged by Kennedy and Johnson, Webb made racial integration a priority for the agency. NASA publicly supported theCivil Rights Act of 1964[7] and initiated a series of innovative programs aimed at increasing black participation[8] including specifically targeting black colleges and schools with recruitment programs.[9]
The only person to hold the post twice isJames C. Fletcher. During his first administration at NASA, Fletcher was responsible for beginning theSpace Shuttle effort, as well as theViking program that sent landers toMars. He oversaw theSkylab missions and approved theVoyager space probes and theApollo–Soyuz Test Project. He returned to NASA following theChallenger disaster.[10]
Daniel Goldin held the post for the longest term (nearly 10 years), and is best known for pioneering the"faster, better, cheaper" approach to space programs.[11]
The current administrator is entrepreneur and philanthropistJared Isaacman, who was nominated by PresidentDonald Trump on November 5, 2025.[12] He replacedSean Duffy, who served as acting administrator from July 9, 2025 to December 17, 2025.[13]Jared Isaacman was nominated by Trump (while he was president-elect) on December 4, 2024,[14] but his nomination was withdrawn on May 31,[15] reportedly because of his connections toElon Musk and donations towardsDemocratic, anti-Trump politicians.[16]
| No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Days served | President serving under | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | T. Keith Glennan | August 19, 1958 | January 20, 1961 | 885 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
| - |  | Hugh Dryden | January 11, 1961 | February 14, 1961 | 24 | John F. Kennedy | |
| 2 |  | James E. Webb | February 14, 1961 | October 7, 1968 | 1,035 | ||
| 1,781 (2,816 total) | Lyndon B. Johnson | ||||||
| 3 |  | Thomas O. Paine | October 8, 1968 | March 21, 1969 | 104 | ||
| 60 | Richard Nixon | ||||||
| March 21, 1969 | September 15, 1970 | 543 (707 total) | |||||
| - |  | George Low | September 16, 1970 | April 26, 1971 | 222 | ||
| 4 |  | James C. Fletcher | April 27, 1971 | May 1, 1977 | 1,200 | ||
| 895 | Gerald Ford | ||||||
| 101 (3258 total) | Jimmy Carter | ||||||
| - |  | Alan M. Lovelace | May 2, 1977 | June 20, 1977 | 49 | ||
| 5 |  | Robert A. Frosch | June 21, 1977 | January 20, 1981 | 1,309 | ||
| - | | Alan M. Lovelace | January 21, 1981 | July 10, 1981 | 171 (220 total) | Ronald Reagan | |
| 6 |  | James M. Beggs | July 10, 1981 | December 4, 1985 | 1,608 | ||
| - |  | William Graham | December 4, 1985 | May 11, 1986 | 158 | ||
| 7 | | James C. Fletcher | May 12, 1986 | April 8, 1989 | 984 | ||
| 78 (3258 total) | George H. W. Bush | ||||||
| - |  | Dale D. Myers | April 8, 1989 | May 13, 1989 | 35 | ||
| 8 |  | Richard H. Truly | May 14, 1989 | June 30, 1989 | 47 | ||
| July 1, 1989 | March 31, 1992 | 1,004 (1,052 total) | |||||
| 9 |  | Daniel Goldin | April 1, 1992 | November 17, 2001 | 294 | ||
| 2,922 | Bill Clinton | ||||||
| 301 (3,517 total) | George W. Bush | ||||||
| - |  | Daniel Mulville | November 19, 2001 | December 21, 2001 | 32 | ||
| 10 |  | Sean O'Keefe | December 21, 2001 | February 11, 2005 | 1,148 | ||
| - | .jpg) | Frederick D. Gregory | February 11, 2005 | April 14, 2005 | 62 | ||
| 11 |  | Michael D. Griffin | April 14, 2005 | January 20, 2009 | 1,377 | ||
| - | .jpg) | Christopher Scolese | January 20, 2009 | July 17, 2009 | 178 | Barack Obama | |
| 12 |  | Charles Bolden | July 17, 2009 | January 20, 2017 | 2,744 | ||
| - |  | Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. | January 20, 2017 | April 23, 2018 | 458 | Donald Trump | |
| 13 | .jpg) | Jim Bridenstine | April 23, 2018 | January 20, 2021 | 1,003 | ||
| - |  | Steve Jurczyk | January 20, 2021 | May 3, 2021 | 103 | Joe Biden | |
| 14 | .jpg) | Bill Nelson | May 3, 2021 | January 20, 2025 | 1,358 | ||
| - |  | Janet Petro | January 20, 2025 | July 9, 2025 | 170 | Donald Trump | |
| - |  | Sean Duffy | July 9, 2025 | December 18, 2025 | 162 | ||
| 15 | | Jared Isaacman | December 18, 2025 | Incumbent | 63 | ||
The line of succession for the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is as follows:[17]
In the event of there being no deputy administrator of NASA, the associate administrator will serve as acting administrator.
