In 2021 Jared Isaacman, the man soon to become NASA’s boss, bought a 30-second ad at the Super Bowl. Mr Isaacman—a boyish-looking 42-year-old billionaire, jet pilot and one-time owner of the world’s biggest private air force—had paid for four seats on one of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. Viewers were told that one lucky member of the public willing to donate to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee, for which the mission eventually raised over $250m, would be able to join him and the rest of the crew.