Donald Trump has renewed his nomination for the billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman to become Nasa administrator.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis evening, I am pleased to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of NASA. Jared\u2019s passion for Space<\/a>, 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. Congratulations to Jared, his wife Monica, and their children, Mila and Liv,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The move comes several months after Trump withdrew an initial nomination<\/a> of Isaacman \u2013 an ally of the billionaire Elon Musk \u2013 for the same role back in May. Just one week before Isaacman\u2019s confirmation, Trump posted: \u201cAfter a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head Nasa. I will soon announce a new Nominee who will be mission aligned, and put America first in space.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaacman\u2019s initial nomination removal was just days after Musk\u2019s official departure from the White House<\/a>, the SpaceX CEO\u2019s role as a \u201cspecial government employee\u201d leading the so-called department of government efficiency (Doge) having created turbulence for the administration and frustrated some of Trump\u2019s aides.<\/p>\n The president later appointed Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, to be acting Nasa<\/a> administrator instead, pending the choice of a permanent space agency chief. In his renewal post, Trump addressed Duffy\u2019s service briefly, writing: \u201cSean Duffy has done an incredible job as Interim Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).\u201d<\/p>\n Isaacman, the former CEO of the payment processor company Shift4, has broad space industry support but has drawn concerns from lawmakers over his ties to Musk and SpaceX<\/a>, where he spent hundreds of millions of dollars as an early private spaceflight customer.<\/p>\n He donated to Democrats in prior elections. In his confirmation hearing in April, he sought to balance Nasa\u2019s existing moon-aligned space exploration strategy with pressure to shift the agency\u2019s focus on Mars, saying the US can plan for travel to both destinations.<\/p>\n As the soon-to-be leader of Nasa\u2019s 18,000 employees, Isaacman faces a daunting task of implementing that decision to prioritize Mars, given that Nasa has spent years and billions of dollars trying to return its astronauts to the moon.<\/p>\n