Steve Isakowitz is a recognized leader across the government, commercial, space and technology sectors, who has worked tirelessly throughout his career on behalf of the public good in space.
He currently serves as the President and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, a leading architect for the nation’s space programs, where he heads up efforts to outpace threats to the country’s national security while nurturing the innovative technologies needed to further a new era of space commercialization and exploration. With his guidance, Aerospace’s national workforce of more than 4,600 employees provides objective technical expertise and thought leadership to solve the hardest problems in space and assure mission success for space systems and space vehicles. He is also a driving force behind Space Workforce for Tomorrow, a cross-industry effort to strengthen the nation’s space workforce for generations to come.
Over the course of his more than 30-year career, Isakowitz has made impactful contributions across a number of prominent roles, including at NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the White House Office of Management and Budget. His work has led to renewed plans to send humans to the moon, spurred government-wide efforts to research climate change, furthered the pursuit of breakthrough new clean energy technologies, and opened up commercial frontiers of space travel to the public. Prior to joining Aerospace, Isakowitz was President of Virgin Galactic, where he led development of LauncherOne, a novel air-launched orbital rocket to launch smaller satellites in a rapidly growing market, and oversaw groundbreaking development of SpaceShipTwo, a reusable, all-composite, winged vehicle to support suborbital launches of future astronauts.
Isakowitz serves on various advisory boards at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Loyola Marymount University, and has served on the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee. His work has been widely recognized and awarded, including the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award.
