Dream of Building Rockets? ‘NASA Force’ Could Be Your Ticket

Space agency partners with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to recruit private sector workers for temporary roles.

Jack Daleo

Thursday, March 05, 2026 at 03:00 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Zach Vasile

NASA plans to recruit private sector talent for two-year stints at the space agency. [Credit: NASA]

Key Takeaways:

Newly appointed NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman launched "NASA Force," a program to recruit top private sector talent for two-year assignments within the space agency.
The program aims to address a significant loss of NASA personnel and rebuild core competencies, providing mentorship and training to enhance the agency's capabilities.
A key objective is to accelerate the delayed Artemis moon mission, targeting two lunar landings by 2028 to meet a presidential mandate and counter geopolitical competition from nations like China.
Isaacman attributes the need for "NASA Force" to past inefficiencies, a lack of internal competition, and the outsourcing of core competencies that have led to high costs and slow progress in NASA programs.

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Newly minted NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman put his early stamp on the space agency with his announcement of “NASA Force”—a program he said will recruit “top aerospace, software, systems, and other critical technical talent” from the private sector to work at the space agency for two-year stints.

Speaking at Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism Summit on Tuesday, Isaacman said the injection of private sector talent will “provide mentorship and training and help season and rebuild the core competencies within the NASA workforce.” The space agency has estimated that more than 4,000 of its civil employees departed in 2025 due to deferred resignation and early retirement programs, as well as natural attrition.