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Investing.com-- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to serve as interim administrator of NASA, soon after he pulled SpaceX astronaut Jared Isaacman’s original nomination for the role.
“He (Duffy) will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post late Wednesday.
Duffy succeeds Janet Petro, who had served as acting administrator since January.
The move follows Trump’s decision earlier in May to withdraw his nomination of Isaacman, a commercial astronaut and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s ally, over perceived conflicts of interest with SpaceX.
"Short of a new nominee, this was a great move. NASA needs political leadership from someone the President trusts and has confidence in," Isaacman said in a post on X after the appointment.
Duffy’s selection comes amid media reports of prospective layoffs of more than 2,100 senior-ranked NASA staff and proposed budget cuts to agency science programs.