Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
- President Donald Trump renominated Jared Issacman for the role of NASA administrator on Tuesday.
- Trump initially withdrew the nomination of the Elon Musk associate back in May.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was appointed acting administrator.
President Donald Trump is renominating Jared Isaacman, a close Elon Musk associate, to run NASA months after he initially withdrew the offer amid his feud with the Tesla CEO.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump announced his nomination of Isaacman as the administrator of NASA, a position responsible for the overall vision and policy for the space agency.
Isaacman, a billionaire astronaut and founder of a payment processing company, helped fund and oversee several space missions with SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company.
“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,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
A NASA spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump first nominated Isaacman in December and pulled the offer in May, citing Isaacman’s “prior associations.”
In July, amid his public feud with Musk over the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump said he rescinded his nomination after he found out that Isaacman was a “blue blooded Democrat” and due to his ties with Musk. Isaacman has previously donated to Democrats, according to OpenSecrets.
“I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life,” Trump wrote at the time.
Isaacman later said in an episode of the “Shawn Ryan Show” that he believed he was a “good target as a parting shot” amid the “whole divorce.”
Trump appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as acting administrator in July — a decision Musk would become a vocal opponent of.
Duffy fell under Musk’s ire in recent weeks after the secretary said he would reopen bids for the Artemis III lunar lander due to delays from Musk’s SpaceX. The Artemis III program aims to return US astronauts to the moon.
“A little COMPETITION doesn’t hurt and it spurs INNOVATION!” Duffy wrote in an X post on October 20.
Musk later called Duffy a “dummy” on X and wrote that the secretary was “trying to kill NASA!”
Musk and a spokesperson for the Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment.
In a post on X, following Trump’s renomination announcement, Isaacman thanked Trump for the opportunity and gave a shout-out to the transportation secretary.
“I am also grateful to @SecDuffy,” he wrote, “who skillfully oversees @NASA alongside his many other responsibilities.”
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