Just days before his expected Senate confirmation, billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman—closely aligned with Elon Musk’s SpaceX—has been withdrawn as President Donald Trump’s nominee for NASA administrator. The announcement came on the same day Musk stepped down from the government’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and follows renewed scrutiny of Isaacman’s past political donations to Democratic candidates. A new nominee for NASA administrator will be announced soon, according to Trump, who said he will prioritize someone who is “mission aligned” and can put America “first in space.”
“After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” Trump announced in a May 31 post on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump had named Isaacman as his choice in December. While Isaacman contributed $2 million to Trump’s inauguration, campaign finance records show he has also donated to Democrats, including U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona.
Isaacman, 42, has an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion from founding the payment processing company Shift4 Payments in 1999. In recent years, he has become a prominent figure in private space exploration, commanding an all-civilian SpaceX mission in 2021 and returning to orbit in 2024, where he became the first private citizen to complete a spacewalk. Shift4 also invested $27.5 million in SpaceX in 2021.
“The President, NASA and the American people deserve the very best—an Administrator ready to reorganize, rebuild and rally the best and brightest minds to deliver the world-changing headlines NASA was built to create,” said Isaacman in an X post after Trump’s announcement. “I have not flown my last mission—whatever form that may ultimately take—but I remain incredibly optimistic that humanity’s greatest spacefaring days lie ahead,” he added.
Despite his close ties to Musk’s space venture, Isaacman has shown a willingness to diverge from the billionaire’s views. During his April nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, he stated he would prioritize NASA’s moon program—a mission Musk has previously dismissed as a “distraction.”
“It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted,” said Musk, whose role as a top advisor to Trump ended over the weekend, of Isaacman in an X post responding to his pulled nomination.
Senator Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana and member of the Senate Commerce Committee, defended Isaacman just hours before the withdrawal was announced. “I was proud to introduce Jared at his hearing and strongly oppose efforts to derail his nomination,” Sheehy said on May 31.
Reaction to the withdrawal was swift. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, called it “bad news” for NASA, while far-right activist Laura Loomer speculated that the move was “an effort to damage ties between President Trump and Elon Musk before the 2026 midterms.”
Trump said a new nominee for NASA administrator will be announced soon, adding that he will prioritize someone “mission aligned” who can put America “first in space.”
