*

White House says it will name new NASA nominee soon

*

Jared Isaacman's removal 'bad news for the agency,'

astronomer

says

*

Retired US Air Force lieutenant general floated as

possible

replacement

(Adds reaction from senator, Harvard astronomer)

By Joey Roulette and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - The White House on

Saturday withdrew its nominee for NASA administrator, Jared

Isaacman, abruptly yanking a close ally of Elon Musk from

consideration to lead the space agency.

President Donald Trump will announce a new candidate soon,

said White House spokeswoman Liz Huston.

"It is 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,"

she said.

Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut who had been

Musk's pick to lead NASA, was due next week for a much-delayed

confirmation vote before the U.S. Senate. His removal from

consideration caught many in the space industry by surprise.

The White House did not explain what led to the decision.

Isaacman, whose removal was earlier reported by Semafor, did not

respond to a request for comment.

Isaacman's removal comes just days after Musk's official

departure from the White House, where the SpaceX CEO's role as a

"special government employee" leading the Department of

Government Efficiency created turbulence for the administration

and frustrated some of Trump's aides.

Musk, according to a person familiar with his reaction, was

disappointed by Isaacman's removal.

"It is rare to find someone so competent and good-hearted,"

Musk wrote of Isaacman on X, responding to the news of the White

House's decision.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was unclear whom the administration might tap to replace

Isaacman.

One name being floated is retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant

General Steven Kwast, an early advocate for the creation of the

U.S. Space Force and Trump supporter, according to three people

familiar with the discussions.

Isaacman, the former CEO of payment processor company

Shift4, had broad space industry support but drew concerns from

lawmakers over his ties to Musk and SpaceX, where he spent

hundreds of millions of dollars as an early private spaceflight

customer.

The former nominee had donated to Democrats in prior

elections. In his confirmation hearing in April, he sought to

balance NASA's existing moon-aligned space exploration strategy

with pressure to shift the agency's focus on Mars, saying the

U.S. can plan for travel to both destinations.

As a potential leader of NASA's some 18,000 employees,

Isaacman faced a daunting task of implementing that decision to

prioritize Mars, given that NASA has spent years and billions of

dollars trying to return its astronauts to the moon.

On Friday, the space agency released new details of the

Trump administration's 2026 budget plan that proposed killing

dozens of space science programs and laying off thousands of

employees, a controversial overhaul that space advocates and

lawmakers described as devastating for the agency.

Montana Republican Tim Sheehy, a member of the Senate

Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, wrote on X that

Isaacman "was a strong choice by President Trump to lead NASA"

in response to reports of his departure.

"I was proud to introduce Jared at his hearing and strongly

oppose efforts to derail his nomination," Sheehy said.

Some scientists saw the nominee change as further

destabilizing to NASA as it faces dramatic budget cuts without a

confirmed leader in place to navigate political turbulence

between Congress, the White House and the space agency's

workforce.

"So not having (Isaacman) as boss of NASA is bad news for

the agency," Harvard-Smithsonian astronomer Jonathan McDowell

said on X.

"Maybe a good thing for Jared himself though, since being

NASA head right now is a bit of a Kobayashi Maru scenario,"

McDowell added, referring to an exercise in the science fiction

franchise Star Trek where cadets are placed in a no-win

scenario.