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NASA is once again considering Elon Musk ally Jared Isaacman for the administration’s top role.
The private astronaut had been nominated for the role earlier this year, but the White House yanked that nomination as cracks formed in President Donald Trump’s relationship with Musk.
“Secretary Duffy and Jared Isaacman had an excellent meeting,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stephens first told Reuters in a statement this week.
She added in a statement to Fox News Digital: “At President Trump’s direction, Secretary [Sean] Duffy in his capacity as acting NASA Administrator, is meeting with and vetting several candidates for the permanent role.”
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The nomination was pulled on May 31, one day after the White House held a farewell press conference for Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO who led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts.
Trump announced on social media at the time he was pulling the nomination for Isaacman, a commercial astronaut and founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments after “a thorough review of prior associations.”
Trump also said he would unveil a “new Nominee who will be Mission aligned, and put America First in Space.”
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Isaacman’s affiliations with Musk include being an investor in SpaceX, in addition to leading two private spaceflight missions with SpaceX, including Inspiration4. The 2021 Inspiration4 mission was the first time an all-civilian crew orbited Earth.
The billionaire investor flew twice to space in the company’s capsules.
He had spent months navigating the Senate’s confirmation process at the time his nomination was yanked, balancing NASA’s multi-billion-dollar strategy to return to the moon first and its focus on Mars. NASA recently unveiled plans to develop a nuclear reactor on the moon.
Isaacman said he suspected his ties to Musk were part of the decision, noting the call came the same day Musk’s tenure with DOGE concluded.
“I don’t need to play dumb on this,” Isaacman said on the “All In” podcast. “I don’t think that the timing was much of a coincidence, that there were other changes going on the same day.
“There were some people that had some axes to grind, I guess, and I was a good, visible target.”
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Tensions between Trump and Musk came to a head when Musk came out against the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump’s massive tax and spending package.
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Ties between the pair are seemingly on the mend. They shook hands and chatted at Charlie Kirk’s funeral in Glendale Arizona last month.
“We had a little conversation,” Trump said. “We had a very good relationship, but it was nice that he came over.”
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