The White House has withdrawn the candidacy of billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to head NASA, and will soon announce a new candidate, citing the need to comply with US President Trump's "America First" program. This was reported by Bloomberg, according to UNN.
Details
On Saturday, May 31, the White House announced that it would name a new candidate for NASA administrator. The decision was made a few days before billionaire Jared Isaacman, the current candidate, was to appear before a scheduled Senate vote to confirm his candidacy.
It is critical that the next NASA leader fully embraces President Trump's "America First" agenda, and President Trump will soon announce a replacement directly"
According to the publication, it is not clear why President Donald Trump rejected Isaacman's candidacy, which has already been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee.
It is noted that Isaacman has close ties with Elon Musk. He is the CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments and runs the Polaris program, which uses SpaceX vehicles for private space missions.
According to Bloоmberg, Isaacman said he would like NASA to "launch more telescopes, more probes [and] more rovers." This is likely to contradict Trump's recent budget request, which proposes to eliminate scientific missions and promote greater private sector involvement in the US space program.
The publication reported that Isaacman's representatives declined to comment.
Let us remind you
The Trump administration has proposed cutting NASA's funding in 2026 by almost half, to $3.9 billion. A number of important initiatives will be discontinued, including the return of soil from Mars.