Isaacman decided to drop out of high school at the age of 15.Isaacman chose to drop out of high school at 15. Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post/Getty At the age of 15, Isaacman decided to drop out of high school and take the GED, according to the Netflix docuseries "Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space.""I was a horrible student," Isaacman said in the series. "And I wasn't, like, happy in school, either."He described his younger self as independent and said he didn't understand things like raising your hand to go to the bathroom. At 16, he founded a multibillion-dollar payment-processing company in his parents' basement.Isaacman founded Shift4 in 1999. SOPA Images/Getty Isaacman founded United Bank Card in 1999.The company, now called Shift4, offers mobile-payment software, point-of-sale solutions, and online payments for various businesses.Isaacman said in the Netflix docuseries that when he started the company, he would wake up every day at 7:30 a.m. and fall asleep on the keyboard at 2 or 3 in the morning.By 2020, he took the company public. Today, Shift4 processes over $260 billion annually and serves over 200,000 customers, according to its website. Isaacman has a wife and two kids.Isaacman lives with his wife and two daughters in New Jersey. Joe Raedle/Getty Isaacman has known his wife, Monica Isaacman, for most of his life. The two come from the same town and got married in 2012. They now live in New Jersey with their two daughters."I want my kids to see humans walking on the moon and Mars," Isaacman told BI.His wife said in the docuseries that she had good and bad dreams leading up to his first SpaceX mission, Inspiration4, which launched in 2021.She said while she wouldn't want him to compromise on his dreams of going to space, she worried about what could happen if something went wrong.Isaacman told BI in the interview that his family and wife were much more enthusiastic about the Polaris Dawn mission this time around, thanks to a successful first mission.While there are still risks, he told BI his family is aware and accepts them. He also founded Draken International.Isaacman sold Draken International to Blackstone in 2019. The Washington Post/Getty Isaacman founded Draken International in 2012. The company is a private aircraft provider that also trains pilots for the US military, the UK, and NATO countries.In 2019, Isaacman sold the company to Blackstone. Isaacman became a billionaire in 2019.Isaacman at SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX/Business Wire via AP Photo Isaacman hit billionaire status in 2020 after selling Draken International and taking Shift4 public. His net worth isestimatedat $1.7 billion, according to Forbes. He always had a passion for flying planes.Isaacman said he took an interest in flying early on in life. Patrick T. Fallon Isaacman said in the Netflix docuseries that he took an early interest in flying and went to flight school at a local airport in 2004.At the time, he was feeling burned out from starting his company and described flying as "therapeutic." Isaacman also set a world speed record for flying around the globe in 2009."I do believe you only get one crack at life," Isaacman said in the docuseries. "To the extent you have the means to do so, you have this obligation to live life to the fullest. You never know when it's going to be your last day."He added in the docuseries that this philosophy had taken him to fly in air shows as part of a seven-ship formation aerobatic team and on mountain-climbing expeditions in Antarctica. He's involved with philanthropy.Isaacman and his family are involved in a number of philanthropic causes. Eugene Gologursky/Getty Isaacman has been involved in several charitable causes and organizations, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.Hisraised over $240 million for St. Jude and was named Inspiration4 to inspire support and raise awareness for the research hospital.Isaacman and his wife have also committed to The Giving Pledge, a charitable campaign founded by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett in 2010.The Giving Pledge serves as a commitment from wealthy people to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Isaacman's first mission to space took place in 2021.The Inspiration4 crew members in their SpaceX space suits. Inspiration4/John Kraus In 2021, Isaacman funded and led the first civilian mission to space, called Inspiration4. The mission was carried out by SpaceX 's Dragon capsule.Isaacman previously told Business Insider that the prep for the mission was extensive and involved a lot of studying and physical tests."The academics were pretty intense," Isaacman said, adding that there were thousands of pages across a hundred manuals to learn about SpaceX's Falcon and Dragon aircraft.It also involved crew members drawing blood from each other and learning how to take skin samples to prepare for increased radiation levels on the trip. Isaacman commanded the first-ever privately funded spacewalkThe Crew of the next SpaceX private astronaut flight called Polaris Dawn. The Washington Post/Getty Images On September 10, Isaacman and three other crew members successfully took off on their way into orbit for the first-ever privately funded spacewalk.The spacewalk featured SpaceX's new EVA suits.Polaris Dawn lifted off from Launch Complex-39A at NASA's KSC, which also saw the launches of other historic missions, such as the Apollo 11 moon landing. Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew safely arrived back on the coast of Florida on September 15. Trump nominated Isaacman to lead NASASpaceX CEO with President-Elect Donald Trump. Brandon Bell/Getty Images In an X post on Wednesday, Isaacman called the nomination "the honor of a lifetime" and suggested that human space exploration would be a top priority.Space-industry experts told BI that Isaacman is not a traditional pick for NASA Administrator, but his background in commercial spaceflight would benefit the agency."They need someone who is not afraid to try something new if the old ways aren't working," George Nield, a former head of the FAA's office of commercial space transportation, told BI.Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, called Isaacman "an inspired pick," in part due to his "stellar" managerial skills."He has shown a real commitment to increasing access to space, and I think he is going to be a great person to promote space to the general public," she said.This story was originally published on September 11, 2024, and most recently updated on December 4, 2024.