President Trump has drawn up the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a billionaire commercial astronaut with close ties to Elon Musk, as NASA administrator.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has drawn up the nomination of Jared Isaacman, a billionaire commercial astronaut with close ties to Elon Musk, as the candidate to serve as NASA administrator.
The White House confirmed its withdrawal on May 31, saying Trump will soon announce a new candidate to lead NASA. There was no reason to say goodbye to Isaacman, who led and funded the Private Astronaut Missions Polaris Dawn and Inspiration4, conducted by Musk’s SpaceX.
The withdrawal, first reported by the news website Semafor, comes after 42-year-old Isaacman already cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in April and showed up well for a full Senate vote.
“NASA administrators will help us carry out our bold mission to lead humanity into space and plant President Trump’s bold mission on planet Mars,” White House spokesman Liz Houston said in a statement. “It is essential that NASA’s next leader is perfectly aligned with President Trump’s first American agenda, and President Trump will soon announce a direct replacement.”
The move comes the day after Musk, a business partner and friend of Isakuman, left the White House after spending four months as a senior White House advisor overseeing government efficiency. Musk joined Trump to mark the end of billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s White House tenure.
Laura Rumer, a conservative activist who has proven to affect many Trump decisions, has raised vigilance over the status of Isaac Man’s nomination.n The X-Post wrote, hours before the White House confirmed it had been withdrawn, “There is reason to believe that Isaacman could be facing retaliation due to his friendship with Musk.”
Isaacman, founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, took on his first private space venture in 2021. In 2024, he returned to space with all the CREWs of the amateur space farrer with Polaris Dawn Missions, and jointly funded with SpaceX.
The Polaris Dawn mission was descended from the ground on September 10th with the help of a Falcon 9 rocket. This brought the SpaceX Dragon Capsule into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew also included pilot Scott “Kid” pots and mission specialists Saragilis and Annamenon.
NASA has lacked a full-time administrator since Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator for the Biden administration, stepped down when Trump took office on January 20th.
Contribution: Eric Lagatta from USA Today
Joey Garrison @Jo Garrison to reach.
