Jared Isaacman and President Donald Trump have met in recent weeks and discussed reviving the fintech billionaire's nomination to lead NASA, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A decision to reconsider the Elon Musk ally would mark a major reversal for Trump after the White House revoked the job offer in May citing Isaacman's ties to Democratic politicians. That left NASA without a long-term leader as the space agency grapples with funding and job cuts and races to bring astronauts back to the moon.
Trump has met with Isaacman, a SpaceX astronaut and executive chairman of Shift4 Payments Inc. in person more than once in recent weeks to discuss his vision for leading the space agency, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.
The person cautioned that Trump hasn't made a final decision and could go in a different direction. The role of NASA administrator also requires confirmation by the US Senate.
A White House official said no decisions have been made on the NASA Administrator position. When a decision has been made, it will be announced by Trump directly, the person said.
Isaacman did not provide a comment. NASA representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Transportation Department referred questions to NASA.
The US space agency has been helmed by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy since July and it has been unclear how long he was expected to serve in this role.
Isaacman, who founded Shift4, resigned as chief executive officer in June. Shares in the company fell 1.2% to $78.52 as of 2:10 p.m. New York time on Thursday.
Isaacman had found support across swaths of the space industry and in Congress. He was also a close ally of Musk after spending an undisclosed sum of his own money on two SpaceX missions.
But the White House pulled the nomination after Musk and Trump's relationship soured in a public falling out. Trump said Isaacman would have been "inappropriate" as NASA administrator because he was a "very close friend" of Musk and NASA "is such a big part of Elon's corporate life."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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