Copyright The New York Times
Some five months after President Trump abruptly yanked the nomination of the person he had chosen to lead NASA, he finally put forth a new nomination on Tuesday — of the same person. Jared Isaacman, 42, a billionaire entrepreneur who led two private missions to orbit on SpaceX rockets, is again in line to become the next NASA administrator. “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,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. He did not acknowledge that he had earlier named Mr. Isaacman to the post, nor that he had angrily withdrawn the nomination. In his own post on the website X, Mr. Isaacman thanked the president. “It will be an honor to serve my country under your leadership,” he said. When Mr. Trump originally nominated Mr. Isaacman in December, it seemed in part to be related to the enterpreneur’s close association with Elon Musk, the founder and chief executive of SpaceX. But by late May, Mr. Musk, then leading the Department of Government Efficiency, had a falling out with the president over a domestic policy bill that rancorously spilled over to social media. On May 31, the day after Mr. Musk left his government role, and just days before the Senate was scheduled to vote on Mr. Isaacman, Mr. Trump announced that he would withdraw the nomination. Mr. Trump was upset that Mr. Isaacman had contributed to the campaigns of some Democrats, including former Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. Despite the sacrifices that Mr. Isaacman made to avoid conflicts of interest as NASA administrator — stepping down as chief executive of the payment processing company Shift4, canceling contracts with SpaceX for future space missions and selling off his aerospace investments — he has remained publicly cordial and deferential toward Mr. Trump. “I am incredibly grateful to President Trump @POTUS, the Senate and all those who supported me throughout this journey,” he wrote on X the day that Mr. Trump made his U-turn. In September, Mr. Isaacman, filling in for Mr. Musk, attended a dinner of Silicon Valley executives that Mr. Trump hosted at the White House. Mr. Isaacman has also chimed in to support Mr. Trump on issues unrelated to space, including military attacks on boats of suspected drug smugglers, which many experts regard as illegal. “I really support this,” Mr. Isaacman wrote on X this month. NASA has been without a permanent leader for more than 10 months. As is typical, Bill Nelson, the space agency’s administrator under the Biden administration, stepped down when Mr. Trump was sworn in. Janet Petro, the director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, filled in as acting administrator until July. Then President Trump decided that Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, would temporarily lead NASA. Like many federal agencies, NASA has been unsettled by the Trump administration’s shifts in policy. The president and his advisers are seeking to pivot the agency’s priorities in space, proposing deep cuts to Earth science and robotic missions to other worlds while placing a greater emphasis on sending astronauts to the moon and maybe Mars. In recent weeks, Mr. Duffy and Mr. Musk have tussled over the Artemis III mission. Currently scheduled for mid-2027, it is to land NASA astronauts on the lunar surface near the South Pole. SpaceX has a contract to adapt its Starship spacecraft to serve as a moon lander. But it is looking increasingly likely that Starship, with its immense size and complexity, will not be ready for quite a few years. Instead, an astronaut from China, which is aiming for its first moon landing by 2030, could be the next person to set foot there. Mr. Duffy, who has vowed that the United States will win this 21st-century space race, announced he would reopen the Artemis III lander contract to seek a simpler, faster solution. Mr. Musk then mocked Mr. Duffy. “Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!” he wrote in one post on X. “The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2 digit IQ,” he wrote in another. Behind the scenes, Mr. Duffy and Mr. Isaacman have been jockeying to gain lasting control of NASA. After The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Duffy would like to become the agency’s permanent administrator, a NASA spokeswoman said Mr. Duffy had only been suggesting that NASA become part of the Department of Transportation. She said that it might benefit from being part of a cabinet-level organization.
