Jared Isaacman (born February 11, 1983) is an American entrepreneur,

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, philanthropist, and

commercial astronaut A commercial astronaut is a person who has commanded, piloted, or served as an active crew member of a privately funded spacecraft. This is distinct from an otherwise non-government astronaut, for example Charlie Walker, who flies while represe ...

. He is the founder, CEO of

Draken International Draken International, LLC is an American provider of tactical fighter aircraft for contract air services including military and defense industry customers. The firm is based at the Lakeland Linder International Airport in Lakeland, Florida and also ...

, a private

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

provider and

Shift4 Payments Shift4 is an American payment processing company publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The company, founded in 1999 by the then 16-year-old Jared Isaacman, processes payments for over 200,000 busin ...

, a

payment processor A payment processor is a system that enables financial transactions, commonly employed by a merchant, to handle transactions with customers from various channels such as credit cards and debit cards or bank accounts. They are usually broken dow ...

. As of September 2022, his estimated net worth is US$1.5 billion. Isaacman was the commander of

Inspiration4 Inspiration4 (stylized as Inspirati④n) was a 2021 human spaceflight operated by SpaceX on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. The mission launched the Crew Dragon ''Resilience'' on 16 September 2021 at 00:02:56 UTC from Kennedy Sp ...

, a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

using

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

's Crew Dragon ''Resilience'', launched from

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

in Florida on September 16, 2021. The crew returned to Earth on September 18, 2021, after orbiting at in altitude. The mission was part of a fundraiser for

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, pa ...

, to which Isaacman pledged to donate $100 million. Isaacman will command the Polaris Dawn mission, the first private spaceflight in a series of missions named the

Polaris Program The Polaris Program is a planned human spaceflight program organized by businessman and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman. Isaacman, who commanded the first all-civilian Inspiration4 spaceflight in September 2021, purchased flights from Spac ...

. Isaacman is currently undergoing commercial astronaut training at

Early life

Jared Isaacman was born on February 11, 1983 to Donald and Sandra Marie Isaacman. He is Jewish, although he has said he is not a religious person despite donating to synagogues. He is a youngest child, and has three siblings: two brothers, Marc and Michael, and a sister, Tiffany. While living in

Westfield, New Jersey Westfield is a town in Union County, New Jersey, United States, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 30,316,Liberty Corner section of Bernards Township. Isaacman attended William Annin Middle School (6–8th grade) from ages 11 to 13, where he met his future wife Monica. He attended Aviation Challenge in Huntsville, Alabama as a child, inspiring his love of aviation. As a ninth grader and a freshman at

Ridge High School Ridge High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Bernards Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the ...

Bernards Township, New Jersey Bernards Township () is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The township is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the much larger New York metropolitan area, located within the Raritan Valley region. As of the 2020 Uni ...

, Isaacman discovered that he and his best friend, Brendan Lauber, had a knack for fixing computers and started a computer repair business in his parents' basement called Deco Systems. He also worked at CompUSA in nearby Somerville, NJ. He had begun working, doing computer technical service and repair, when he was 14. Two years later, that work resulted in an offer of a full-time job from one of his clients, and he chose to drop out of high school to take the job, obtaining a

GED The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

along the way.

Business career

In 1999, Isaacman founded a retail payment processing company named United Bank Card, which was later renamed Harbortouch, a point-of-sale payment company based in Pennsylvania. He was the founding CEO, and retained that role in 2015 with the company having "been profitable for over a decade hile processing a year from 60,000 merchants, generating in revenues." By 2020, the company had been renamed

, Isaacman remained CEO, and the company was processing in payments annually. In 2012, he co-founded

, a Florida-based company that trains pilots for the

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

. The company operates one of the world's largest fleets of privately owned

fighter jet Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

Personal life

In 2004, Isaacman began taking flying lessons. In 2009, he set a world record for circumnavigating the globe. He received a bachelor's degree in professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2011. He is flight qualified in multiple military jet aircraft. In his 20s, he flew in many

airshow An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show m ...

s, but by his 30s, he had stopped flying as such. He is married and has two daughters. Isaacman married Monica of New Jersey in 2011. She went to middle school with Jared, and later worked at UBC. Isaacman entered into a relationship with Monica in 2002. Isaacman has been a resident of Washington Township, New Jersey.

Personal endeavors

Air show pilot

While in his 20s, Isaacman performed in

s with the Black Diamond Jet Team.

World record flight

In 2008, he tried to set the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet, falling just short, by traveling around the world in 83 hours, just beyond the existing record of 82 hours. The record attempt was a fundraising event for

Make-A-Wish Foundation The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 and headqua ...

. In April 2009, he set a world record for circumnavigating the globe in a

light jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...

, making the flight in 61:51:15, about 20 hours faster than the previous record of 82 hours. The world record attempt was made as a fundraising event for Make-A-Wish Foundation of New Jersey. He flew a

Cessna Citation CJ2 The Cessna CitationJet/CJ/M2 (also known as the Model 525) are a series of light business jets built by Cessna, and are part of the Citation family. Launched in October 1989, the first flight of the Model 525 was on April 29, 1991. Federal Av ...

with two other crew members, skipping stops in India and Japan, where he encountered hours-long ground delays in his previous attempt in 2008.

Spaceflights

Inspiration4 Launch (210915-F-CG053-1004)

In February 2021, Isaacman announced that he would serve as commander of

, the first

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

where none of the people aboard are from a government agency. The mission, operated by

, on board an autonomous

Crew Dragon Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, primarily for flights to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has also launched private missions such as Insp ...

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

launched by a

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...

launch vehicle. Isaacman received the call sign "Rook" during flight training. He is featured on the cover of a ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine double issue with the rest of the crew of Inspiration4 in August 2021. Inspiration4 launched on September 15, 2021 (UTC), achieved orbit and splashed down 3 days later. During the Inspiration4 mission, Isaacman made history by making the first-known sports bet from space, placing two bets on

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

football with the BetMGM Sportsbook, while over

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Isaacman will return to space on the upcoming

Polaris Dawn Polaris Dawn is a planned private human spaceflight mission, operated by SpaceX on behalf of Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, scheduled to launch no earlier than March 2023. The flight will be using the Crew Dragon capsule, and is the fir ...

mission, scheduled for launch no earlier than March 2023.

References

External links

Bernards Township, New Jersey Talks about Jared Isaacman Growing Up
* 2008/2009 World Record attempt
website

''Countdown: Inspiration4: Mission to Space''
at Netflix * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isaacman, Jared 1983 births American astronauts American chief executives Commercial astronauts Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University Inspiration4 Living people People from Washington Township, Warren County, New Jersey Ridge High School alumni SpaceX astronauts