Jared Isaacman Photo: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images / Profimedia
Astronaut Jared Isaacman, a close relative of Elon Musk who was excluded from the race for the head of the American space agency this year, returned to books for this position after meeting last week with NASA's exercise administrator, Sean Duffy, as a candidate for the head of the space agency, informs Reuters.
“Secretary Duffy and Jared Isaacman had an excellent meeting,” said NASA Bethany Stephens spokesman. “At the directions of President Trump, Secretary Duffy, in his capacity as interim administrator of NASA, meets and verifies several candidates for the permanent role” at NASA leadership, she added.
Jared Isaacman has not yet answered the requests to comment on this candidacy.
Last year, President Donald Trump named Isaacman at NASA's leadership at the recommendation of Musk, the CEO of Spacex, who had been an influential adviser of the president and sought to closely align the American space with his goal of carrying out missions on Mars.
Isaacman, a billionaire client of Spacex who flew twice with the company's capsules, had spent months navigating through the Senate confirmation process, balancing the Trump administration's desire to focus on Mars with the NASA billions of dollars to return to the month in a geopolitical race.
But in May, President Trump withdrew the nomination of Isaacman against the background of a large dispute with Musk. Then Sean Duffy, who was also the head of the US Transport Department, was appointed NASA's interim chief.
Jared Isaacman founded the company Shift4 and has a fortune of about two billion dollars. He became known for his investments in space missions, starting a space mini-program, in collaboration with Spacex. The program, called Polaris after the Polar Star, is funded by both Spacex and Jared Isaacman.
