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Donald Trump has relaunched his nomination of a billionaire private astronaut to be the new NASA chief and lead the space agency “into a bold new era”.
Jared Isaacman, an ally of SpaceX boss Elon Musk, was originally nominated by the US president in the spring, but the rug was pulled at the last minute over his previous donations to Democrats.
Now, in a sudden reversal, Mr Trump has decided Isaacman is, after all, the best person for the job.
“Jared’s passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and unlocking the new space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA into a bold new era,” he wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Isaacman, the former chief executive of the payment processing company Shift4, has twice been to space in commercially funded missions with SpaceX.
Last year he became the first private citizen to perform a spacewalk.
Although he has wide support within the US space industry, he remains a controversial figure in Republican circles, and still needs to be approved in a Senate hearing.
Isaacman doesn’t appear to hold a grudge over his job offer being cancelled last time round.
He said on X: “Thank you, Mr President @POTUS, for this opportunity. It will be an honor to serve my country under your leadership.
“The support from the space-loving community has been overwhelming.
“I am not sure how I earned the trust of so many, but I will do everything I can to live up to those expectations.”
If Isaacman is cleared to take up the job, he faces the daunting task of putting…
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