Donald Trump to announce replacement of NASA administrator nominee: White House

Jared Isaacman is the chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments. The company processes payments for restaurants, resorts, hotels, casinos and stadiums.

The White House said it would name a new nominee for NASA administrator, just days before billionaire Jared Isaacman, the current pick, was to face his planned Senate confirmation vote.

It wasn’t immediately clear why President Donald Trump was dropping the nomination of Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator. (REUTERS)

“It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon,” White House spokesperson Liz Huston said.

It wasn’t immediately clear why President Donald Trump was dropping the nomination of Isaacman, who had already been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee.

Isaacman is the chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments. The company processes payments for restaurants, resorts, hotels, casinos and stadiums. Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet provider, is also a customer. Isaacman has spent an undisclosed sum of his own money on two SpaceX missions, while Shift4 Payments has provided SpaceX with $27.5 million in funding.

During his confirmation hearing, Isaacman made the case that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration can pursue missions to both the moon and Mars “in parallel”, walking a political tightrope between the desires of Congress and the administration.

“The administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and execute President Trump’s bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars,” Huston said.