WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared Isaacman to head NASA, again tapping the close associate of Elon Musk to lead the US space agency.
The nomination, announced by Trump on Truth Social, came six months after the president withdrew his initial nomination of Isaacman to lead NASA amid a bitter row with Musk.
If confirmed by the Senate, Isaacman would replace Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has served as interim administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“Jared’s passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication to pushing the boundaries of exploration, unlocking the mysteries of the universe, and advancing the new Space economy, make him ideally suited to lead NASA,” Trump said in his post.
Isaacman in May was yanked as the choice to lead NASA just as Musk and Trump were falling out over the president’s “big beautiful” domestic policy mega-bill.
The White House at the time pointed to Isaacman’s previous support of Democrats, even if the move was widely interpreted as a snub of Musk.
Following Trump’s announcement Tuesday, Musk posted on X emojis of a heart, rocket and US flag over a screengrab of Trump’s announcement of Isaacman’s renomination.
Musk, the world’s richest person, was almost inseparable from Trump as he headed the cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, but the pair later fell out bitterly over government spending plans under the Trump-led budget.
Musk had reportedly lobbied directly with the president for Isaacman to get the top NASA job, raising questions of possible conflicts of interest.
Isaacman, an accomplished pilot, made history as the first private citizen to conduct a spacewalk during SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission in September 2024.
The 42-year-old founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments has flown multiple private space missions aboard Musk’s SpaceX rockets and has been a key customer and advocate for the company’s space exploration goals.
The appointment requires Senate confirmation.
Trump again taps Musk ally Jared Isaacman to lead NASA
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Trump again taps Musk ally Jared Isaacman to lead NASA
In show of support, Canada, France open consulates in Greenland
- Decisions taken in a strong show of support for Greenland government amid threats by US President Trump to seize the island
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Canada and France, which both adamantly oppose Donald Trump’s wish to control Greenland, will open consulates in the Danish autonomous territory’s capital on Friday, in a strong show of support for the local government.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
The US president last month backed off his threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.
A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss ways to meet Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but the details of the talks have not been made public.
While Denmark and Greenland have said they share Trump’s security concerns, they have insisted that sovereignty and territorial integrity are a “red line” in the discussions.
“In a sense, it’s a victory for Greenlanders to see two allies opening diplomatic representations in Nuuk,” said Jeppe Strandsbjerg, a political scientist at the University of Greenland.
“There is great appreciation for the support against what Trump has said.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Paris’s plans to open a consulate during a visit to Nuuk in June, where he expressed Europe’s “solidarity” with Greenland and criticized Trump’s ambitions.
The newly-appointed French consul, Jean-Noel Poirier, has previously served as ambassador to Vietnam.
Canada meanwhile announced in late 2024 that it would open a consulate in Greenland to boost cooperation.
The opening of the consulates is “a way of telling Donald Trump that his aggression against Greenland and Denmark is not a question for Greenland and Denmark alone, it’s also a question for European allies and also for Canada as an ally, as a friend of Greenland and the European allies also,” Ulrik Pram Gad, Arctic expert at the Danish Institute of International Studies, told AFP.
“It’s a small step, part of a strategy where we are making this problem European,” said Christine Nissen, security and defense analyst at the Europa think tank.
“The consequences are obviously not just Danish. It’s European and global.”
Recognition
According to Strandsbjerg, the two consulates — which will be attached to the French and Canadian embassies in Copenhagen — will give Greenland an opportunity to “practice” at being independent, as the island has long dreamt of cutting its ties to Denmark one day.
The decision to open diplomatic missions is also a recognition of Greenland’s growing autonomy, laid out in its 2009 Self-Government Act, Nissen said.
“In terms of their own quest for sovereignty, the Greenlandic people will think to have more direct contact with other European countries,” she said.
That would make it possible to reduce Denmark’s role “by diversifying Greenland’s dependence on the outside world, so that it is not solely dependent on Denmark and can have more ties for its economy, trade, investments, politics and so on,” echoed Pram Gad.
Greenland has had diplomatic ties with the European Union since 1992, with Washington since 2014 and with Iceland since 2017.
Iceland opened its consulate in Nuuk in 2013, while the United States, which had a consulate in the Greenlandic capital from 1940 to 1953, reopened its mission in 2020.
The European Commission opened its office in 2024.
