--- title: "Trump Just Kicked Elon Musk’s Hand-Picked NASA Head to the Curb" description: "Jared Isaacman, NASA's candidate for administrator, handpicked by Elon Musk, has been thrown under the bus by the Trump administration." date: "2025-06-02" modified: "2025-06-02" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/trump-elon-musk-jared-isaacman-nomination-nasa" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "NASA" - "Space" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "jared isaacman" - "mars" - "NASA" - "SpaceX" --- # Trump Just Kicked Elon Musk’s Hand-Picked NASA Head to the Curb ![Jared Isaacman, NASA's candidate for administrator, handpicked by Elon Musk, has been thrown under the bus by the Trump administration.]() *\Image: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images\* NASA's top candidate for its still-open administrator position — a space tourist who was handpicked to run the agency by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — has been thrown under the bus by the Trump administration. As [scooped by *Semafor*](), the White House has pulled its nomination for billionaire fighter jet pilot-turned-SpaceX astronaut Jared Isaacman. While the exact reasoning behind the eyebrow-raising move remains unclear at best — a White House spokesperson said Isaacman wasn't in "full alignment with" the Trump agenda — the timing of the announcement comes as Musk's relationship with the Trump administration is [visibly fraying](). The mercurial CEO [arrived at his own White House goodbye party]() last week with a black eye, which he blamed on his five-year-old son, bookending chaotic and destructive months in Washington, DC. Given [recent reports](), a [major rift appears to have opened up]() between Musk and Trumpworld. In other words, it's easy to imagine that the Trump administration pulled Isaacman from consideration out of retribution, given the latter's extremely cozy relationship with Musk. During his confirmation hearing, the former NASA administrator hopeful had to [repeatedly assure lawmakers]() he wasn't in the pocket of the richest man in the world, going as far as to [diverge from Musk's plans]() to make sending humans to Mars a top priority. But it was hard to see much daylight between the two. The SpaceX CEO played a key role in Isaacman's nomination, catapulting him to the front of the line. As such, the pulling of his nomination could represent a major blow to SpaceX, which has relied heavily on NASA contracts to sustain itself since its early years. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has indicated that it's planning to catastrophically [slash the space agency's science budget](), an existential risk for major interplanetary missions, including NASA's next major space telescope and Mars Sample Return mission. Isaacman said he planned to lead missions to [both the Moon and Mars simultaneously](), despite extremely slimmed-down budgets, potentially handing SpaceX major contracts for trips to the Red Planet on board its still-under-development Starship rocket. But now that he's been kicked to the curb by the Trump administration, lawmakers are bound to ask some tough questions. The US Senate Commerce Committee approved his nomination in late April, voting 19 to nine, including unanimous support from Republicans, as [*Ars Technica* reports](). In spite of his close ties to Musk, Isaacman remains a popular figure in the space community, likely making his abrupt departure a tough pill to swallow for many influential figures. "NASA is f\*cked," a current NASA leader to *Ars*. "NASA's budget request is just a going-out-of-business mode without Jared there to innovate," a separate NASA leader added. Chances are that Isaacman could make his return to his civilian space exploration program, Polaris Dawn, which was [put "on hold]()" following his nomination. In September, he became the [first private astronaut]() to go on a spacewalk outside of a SpaceX spacecraft. Now that he's become the victim of the murky machinations of an administration that has long been known to throw anybody who fails Trump's loyalty test to the wolves, chances are he may soon be headed off-planet once again to [leave all of that drama behind](). **More on Isaacman:** *[Incoming NASA Administrator Throws Elon Musk's Mars Plans Under the Bus]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()