Watch Trump's pick for NASA chief Jared Isaacman return to Capitol Hill for Senate vote on April 30

Billionaire philanthropist and private astronaut Jared Isaacman is headed back to Washington D.C. as the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation votes to advance his confirmation as NASA Administrator.

Isaacman was nominated by President Donald Trump last December, and sat before the committee once already during a hearing on April 9. Now, the committee will vote Wednesday (April 30) whether or not to send the tech billionaire's confirmation to the Senate. If confirmed, Isaacman stands to replace former administrator Bill Nelson, and take the reigns from the current acting administrator Janet Petro.

The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) and will stream live on the Senate committee website. Watch it live here courtesy of the U.S. Senate.

Isaacman is the CEO of Shift4 payments, a role that helped him acquire his fortune. With his wealth, Isaacman started Draken International, which provides fighter aircraft services and training to government and private customers, and the Polaris Program, which has flown two privately-funded SpaceX missions to space (Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn) with him aboard as commander. Through those SpaceX missions, Isaacman helped raise over $250 million for Saint Jude's Research Hospital.

During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Senators questioned Isaacman on his visions for NASA as they pertain to climate research, planetary science funding, the Artemis Program and his private relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

For his part, Isaacman largely held a firm line during his questioning, committing to NASA's current programs like Artemis, tacking on bigger-picture goals like a crewed Mars mission, while stopping short of full-on commitments to specific policy changes at the agency. He also signaled a willingness to cooperate with President Trump's efforts to drastically shrink the Federal government.

"First, American astronauts will lead the way in the ultimate 'high ground' of space. As the president stated, we will prioritize sending American astronauts to Mars," Isaacman said during his opening remarks April 9. In response to many of the questions thrown his way, Isaacman emphasized the importance of American dominance in space, especially as China eyes a crewed moon landing to beat NASA's return to the lunar surface with Artemis 3.

If confirmed, Isaacman will very likely have to put his personal space endeavors on hold, which means pausing future Polaris missions. At least one of those was slated to fly as the first crewed mission of SpaceX's Starship, once SpaceX completes development on the next generation heavy-lift launch vehicle.

Starship has also been contracted by NASA as the lunar lander for Artemis 3, which is currently slated for 2027 — one year short of Isaacman's potential administrative tenure at the space agency, should he be confirmed and remain the length of Trump's term.