As chairman of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation, Cruz effectively has control over Isaacman's confirmation process. He was also just re-elected to a six-year term, so theoretically Cruz is less susceptible to political pressure from the Trump White House.

After almost three decades of science, research and exploration, the ISS is set to retire by the end of 2030. Once it is decommissioned, commercial companies like Axiom Space will establish new orbiting platforms.

Elon Musk is beefing with a former commander of the International Space Station on his social media platform X, in a quarrel over the two NASA astronauts that have been at the station for months. The spat escalated with Musk on Thursday calling to decommission the ISS,