Trump decides to remove Isaacman’s nomination, Friend of Musk, to direct NASA | Science

Donald Trump prepares to withdraw the nomination of Jared Isaacman to direct NASA, according to the Digital this Saturday Semafor and later confirmed the president himself. The plan to withdraw the nomination transcends a day after Elon Musk fired his position in the government. Isaacman is a friend and ally of the richest man in the world, owner of the Spacex space company, which has large contracts with NASA. Trump, however, removes the nomination for Isaacman’s past ties with the Democrats.

“After an exhaustive review of his previous links, therefore the candidacy of Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. I will soon announce a new candidate who will be aligned with the mission and put the United States first in space. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote in Truth, his social network.

The president has formed his team with loyal and trustworthy people, but Isaacman was a foreign body in the Trumpist world. His choice was explained by his proximity to Musk, but with the founder of Spacex out of the equation, Trump has preferred to do without him. According to The New York Times, The president has told people around his surroundings that he learned that Isaacman had made donations to Democratic candidates in the last two electoral cycles, including the Senator by Arizona Mark Kelly and the former senator by Pennsilvania Bob Casey, as well as the California Democratic Party.

Trump would have been surprised that they would not have informed him before that political inclination of the candidate to direct NASA, according to said medium. That has been enough to fall out of favor and Musk is no longer to defend him. Isaacman donated two million dollars to Trump’s furthe in the investiture, but given the sectarian attitude of the president, that is not enough. The Republican anticipated Musk his decision on Friday and this Saturday some supporters went out to defend him to try to save his nomination without success.

Isaacman, 42, is a billionaire of the financial technology sector very close to Musk. He traveled to space as a pilot on a space flight of Spacex. With his appointment, he went from being a private client of the richest man in the world to be from the public sector, since Elon Musk’s company has multimillionaires contracts with the agency. NASA has the Spacex Starship ship, even in the testing phase, to bring astronauts to the lunar surface and already hires the displacement of astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station. Isaacman shares Musk’s vision that humanity is called to become “a spatial civilization.”

Isaacman became billionaire with the SHIFT4 payment processing company, which he founded when he was only 16 years old, and worth $ 8.4 billion in the stock market. In 2012, he also founded Draken International, an aerospace company for defense and combat aircraft, contractor of the Department of Defense.

Trump is committed to rename NASA to focus it on human space exploration, departing from its current line in which the priority is scientific research, carried out by both astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) and by telescopes and robotic probes that travel through the Solar System.

In his speech to take possession in the Capitol of January 20, to delirium of Musk, there, the Republican said: “We will continue our manifest destination towards the stars, throwing American astronauts to plant the US flag on the planet Mars.”

Isaacman aligned himself with that promise and, in his appearance in the Senate on April 9, he made clear his preference for bringing astronauts to Mars than to the moon, but considered that both objectives were compatible and that, in fact, as the Moon’s mission is more advanced, it would arrive before. The Senate Trade Commission approved its appointment and confirmation by the Plenary was expected for next week.

With the withdrawal of the candidacy, the process begins again. NASA will continue, therefore, with an acting administrator for several weeks or more months, while Trump proposes a new candidate and passes the Senate exam. The vacuum from the resignation of Bill Nelson on January 20 occurs at a time when the company must assume its new priorities and face the budget cut that Trump has proposed, from 24,800 to 18,000 million dollars. The new proposal includes a game of 1,000 million dollars allocated to Mars, although without specifying what would be dedicated.

Musk develops his Starship ship to get to Mars, but aspires to achieve NASA financing. With Isaacman, he had the perfect ally to achieve billionaire contracts, although he is likely to also achieve them with the future administrator.