Trump pulls Musk ally’s NASA Administrator nomination
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Summary
President Trump’s administration has withdrawn the nomination of Elon Musk ally Jared Isaacman as the new NASA administrator following Elon Musk’s public departure from his role as a White House employee and criticism of Trump.
Reports had suggested that Trump had decided to withdraw Isaacman’s nomination after learning that the billionaire had made donations to prominent Democrats, including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
The administration has also declared its intention to cut NASA’s budget by almost a quarter, with funding for science programmes set to drop by 47%.
NASA’s proposed budget has been described by The Planetary Society as “an extinction-level event for the space agency’s most productive, successful, and broadly supported activity: science,” and a former NASA leader has labelled the budget request as “a going-out-of-business mode.