The move — reportedly motivated by Isaacman’s past support of Democratic politicians — leaves NASA leaderless amid massive cuts to its science budget.
Shift4 CEO and founder Jared Isaacman speaks April 9 at a Senate confirmation hearing. Credit: U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation
The Trump administration announced Saturday, May 31, that it would withdraw the nomination of entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman for NASA administrator. The move came just days before the Senate was scheduled to vote on his confirmation, where he was widely expected to be approved. The Senate committee on commerce, science, and transportation had advanced his nomination April 30 by a vote of 19–9, with bipartisan support.
“The Administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and execute President Trump’s bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars,” Liz Huston, a spokesperson for the White House, told Semafor, which first reported the withdrawal. “It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon.”
The White House did not publicly give a reason for the reversal. But according to The New York Times, President Donald Trump had concerns about Isaacman’s political loyalty. The Times reported that Trump was informed of Isaacman’s donations to Democrats in the past two campaign cycles, including Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz. and a former shuttle commander), former Senator Bob Casey (D-Penn.), and the California Democratic Party.
As it will likely take months to confirm a new nominee, the move leaves NASA without a leader at a time of agency turmoil, with its science division facing massive cuts in President Trump’s proposed 2026 budget. The president’s budget request, announced May 2 and released in its final form yesterday, would slash funding for NASA science nearly in half from $7.3 billion to $3.9 billion, cancelling or closing out dozens of missions and scientific initiatives.
Scientists and advocacy groups have said such cuts would have dire consequences for U.S. science. The Planetary Society warned of a “dark age” and an “extinction-level event” in response to prior reports of Trump’s budget. In a May 2 statement, the American Astronomical Society said that the administration’s proposed cuts to science funding at NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy “will result in the loss of American leadership in science.” Several members of Congress, which controls appropriations, have vowed to fight the reductions.
Isaacman had faced scrutiny for his ties to Elon Musk, whose 130-day stint as a special government employee working with the U.S. DOGE Office recently concluded, and SpaceX, which holds key contracts with NASA, including delivering a Starship-based lunar lander for the crewed Artemis 3 mission. Isaacman served as commander of two private spaceflight missions launched on SpaceX rockets, including Polaris Dawn, where he became the first private astronaut to perform a spacewalk. During Isaacman’s confirmation hearing, he was pressed by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) about whether Musk was physically present when Isaacman met with Trump in late 2024. Isaacman declined repeated opportunities to deny that Musk was in the room.
But Isaacman was also seen as someone who might help NASA restore some of the funding cuts proposed in the president’s budget request. In written responses to questions from senators following his confirmation hearing, Isaacman said ”a 50 percent reduction to NASA’s science budget does not appear to be an optimal outcome” and that he would “advocate for strong investment in space science … and for securing as much funding as the government can reasonably allocate.” He also reiterated his support for the Chandra X-ray space telescope, which would be closed out under the 2026 president’s budget.
