Trump revives billionaire Jared Isaacman’s nomination to top Nasa job
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Mr Jared Isaacman was removed from consideration to lead Nasa earlier in 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump renominated billionaire Elon Musk’s ally Jared Isaacman to lead Nasa on Nov 4, a major about-face just five months after the White House ended his candidacy as relations between Mr Trump and Mr Musk soured.
Mr Isaacman’s return to the spotlight caps weeks of drama over who will helm the agency, with Mr Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, mounting a verbal assault on acting Nasa leader Sean Duffy, the US Transportation Secretary who antagonised Mr Musk by talking about opening up SpaceX contracts to rivals
“I am pleased to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot and astronaut, as administrator of Nasa,” Mr Trump said in a social media post.
“Jared’s passion for space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new space economy, make him ideally suited to lead Nasa into a bold new era.”
The decision comes after Mr Isaacman met both Mr Trump and Mr Duffy, Bloomberg reported.
Mr Trump credited Mr Duffy for “an incredible job” as interim administrator.
In a post on social media platform X, Mr Isaacman thanked Mr Trump for the opportunity and expressed gratitude to Mr Duffy for his time overseeing Nasa.
“The journey is never easy, but it is time to inspire the world once again to achieve the near-impossible – to undertake and accomplish big, bold endeavours in space,” Mr Isaacman wrote.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Mr Isaacman referred Bloomberg to the post on X.
Mr Isaacman in recent months mounted an effort to reclaim the job and gave more than US$1 million (S$1.3 million) to pro-Trump organisations, according to filings.
Mr Trump had previously cited Mr Isaacman’s donations to Democrats as one reason for pulling the nomination.
Nasa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The campaign ignited a power struggle with Mr Duffy that spilled out into the press, prompting Mr Musk to weigh in on X.
Mr Isaacman is a staunch supporter of the commercial space industry, having financed and flown on private missions with SpaceX.
If confirmed, the Shift4 Payments executive chairman would have to navigate concerns over how he would balance his ties to SpaceX and Nasa’s work with Mr Musk’s rivals.
Mr Isaacman would also be taking over an agency that is facing significant proposed budget cuts to its science programmes and is racing to send humans back to the Moon ahead of China.
He was on the cusp of becoming Nasa administrator earlier in 2025, after garnering support from across the space industry and undergoing a Senate confirmation hearing.
But just days before the expected confirmation vote, the White House abruptly pulled his nomination
The scrapped job nod also occurred after Mr Musk left his temporary position with the federal government and as tensions rose between him and the President.
Mr Trump later said Mr Isaacman would have been “inappropriate” as Nasa administrator because he was a “very close friend” of Mr Musk and Nasa “is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life”.
Mr Isaacman has tied himself closely to SpaceX since 2021.
He has spent an undisclosed amount of money on multiple missions to space, and helped bankroll research and development programmes at the company.
He also has twice flown to orbit with SpaceX and performed the world’s first commercial spacewalk
Prior to being nominated the first time, Mr Isaacman referred to SpaceX as “one of the greatest American success stories”.
Mr Isaacman would come to the Nasa administrator job armed with plenty of ideas and opinions about space policy, many of which he has expressed openly over the last year.
During his confirmation hearing in April, Mr Isaacman argued that Nasa could pursue dual programmes aimed at sending humans to the Moon and Mars.
Lawmakers are eager to send US astronauts back to the lunar surface before China reaches the Moon with its own astronauts, while Mr Musk has emphasised the importance of starting a human settlement on the Red Planet.
Mr Isaacman has also criticised Nasa’s Space Launch System, or SLS, a rocket built by Boeing that is designed to bring humans to the vicinity of the Moon.
While Mr Isaacman supports flying the vehicle on its next two flights, he has called for phasing it out, echoing what the Trump administration tried to do in 2025’s budget proposal.
“It’s expensive. It’s disposable. It is not the way to do affordable, repeatable, efficient exploration, whether it’s to (the) Moon, Mars or anywhere else,” Mr Isaacman said after his nomination was pulled.
Mr Isaacman has talked about investing in nuclear energy and propulsion in space.
He also called the administration’s drastic proposed cuts to Nasa’s science missions not “optimal”. BLOOMBERG
