USA Trump does not want to make Musk friend head of NASA after all
Jared Isaacman, the billionaire and space tourist nominated by US President Donald Trump as the new head of the space agency NASA, is not to take up the post after all. He has withdrawn the nomination of the 42-year-old "after a thorough review of past connections", Trump announced via his online mouthpiece Truth Social. He would soon announce a new candidate who would "put America first in space".
01.06.2025, 07:29
SDA
Trump had nominated the confidant of tech billionaire Elon Musk as the successor to resigned NASA chief Bill Nelson when he took office in January. According to media reports, the appointment should have been confirmed by the US Senate shortly.
Musk disappointed with personnel decision
Musk expressed his disappointment at the withdrawal of Isaacman's nomination and wrote on the X platform: "It's rare to find someone so competent and kind-hearted."
Trump's departure from his former candidate comes as a surprise. In December last year, he had praised him to the skies. With his experience as an astronaut, Isaacman was "ideally suited (...) to lead NASA into a bold new era", Trump said at the time.
Isaacman himself also commented on his resignation on X: "I will always be grateful for this opportunity and cheer on our President and Nasa as they lead us into the greatest adventure in human history." The US deserved the very best, "an administrator who is ready to reorganize, rebuild and assemble the best and brightest minds to deliver the world-changing headlines Nasa was created for."
Isaacman has caused a stir in recent years with two private space missions: in 2021, he was part of the first crew of only amateur astronauts in space and orbited the Earth for almost three days together with three other space travelers. In September 2024, he and three other space tourists took part in the "Polaris Dawn" mission, during which they hovered at an altitude of around 1,400 kilometers and also briefly got out of their spaceship.
Isaacman is said to have supported Democrats with donations
On both missions, Isaacman worked with SpaceX, the private space company owned by Elon Musk, who left his post in the Trump administration on Friday after turbulent months as cost-cutting commissioner.
According to the New York Times, Trump's personnel decision may also have to do with Musk's dwindling influence in the government. In addition, the Republican had learned that Isaacman had supported the Democrats with party donations in the past, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
