diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ce6c03c170c06f740f3ef914b508dbfda2323e5a..b68300e218601eabd8b4aae9ae60f9fcece5f045 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ release.
   override the timestamp style naming convention of the output cube with their
   own name; if not specified retains existing behavior [#5125](https://github.com/USGS-Astrogeology/ISIS3/issues/5162)
 - Added new parameters <b>ONERROR</b>, <b>ERRORLOG</b>, and <b>ERRORLIST</b> to <i>mosrange</i> to provide better control over error behavior and provide diagnostics when problems are encountered processing the input file list.[#3606](https://github.com/DOI-USGS/ISIS3/issues/3606)
+- Added ability to delegate calculation of nadir pointing to ALE [#5117](https://github.com/USGS-Astrogeology/ISIS3/issues/5117)
 
 ### Deprecated
 
diff --git a/isis/src/base/apps/spiceinit/spiceinit.cpp b/isis/src/base/apps/spiceinit/spiceinit.cpp
index 8c0e4dfac5a1daf03825e97661e47fe3624faced..8ff35b9b63048841c5a1f83a62eb4528dd357f3b 100644
--- a/isis/src/base/apps/spiceinit/spiceinit.cpp
+++ b/isis/src/base/apps/spiceinit/spiceinit.cpp
@@ -255,7 +255,6 @@ namespace Isis {
         kernelSuccess = tryKernels(icube, p, ui, log, lk, pck, targetSpk,
                                    realCkKernel, fk, ik, sclk, spk, iak, dem, exk);
       }
-
       if (!kernelSuccess) {
         throw IException(IException::Unknown,
                          "Unable to initialize camera model",
diff --git a/isis/src/base/objs/Spice/Spice.cpp b/isis/src/base/objs/Spice/Spice.cpp
index 678b19d49e73a85d018f07f90c30b7c754ec3c12..d8c01e43559bded403acd6d41893b628ac24e6f7 100644
--- a/isis/src/base/objs/Spice/Spice.cpp
+++ b/isis/src/base/objs/Spice/Spice.cpp
@@ -194,19 +194,16 @@ namespace Isis {
     //  ephemerides. (2008-02-27 (KJB))
     if (m_usingNaif) {
       try {
-        // At this time ALE does not compute pointing for the nadir option in spiceinit
-        // If NADIR is turned on fail here so ISIS can create nadir pointing
-        if (kernels["InstrumentPointing"][0].toUpper() == "NADIR") {
-          QString msg = "Falling back to ISIS generation of nadir pointing";
-          throw IException(IException::Programmer, msg, _FILEINFO_);
-        }
-
         if (isd == NULL){
           // try using ALE
           std::ostringstream kernel_pvl;
           kernel_pvl << kernels;
 
           json props;
+          if (kernels["InstrumentPointing"][0].toUpper() == "NADIR") {
+            props["nadir"] = true;
+          }
+
           props["kernels"] = kernel_pvl.str();
 
           isd = ale::load(lab.fileName().toStdString(), props.dump(), "ale", false, false, true);
@@ -440,7 +437,7 @@ namespace Isis {
 
     //  2009-03-18  Tracie Sucharski - Removed test for old keywords, any files
     // with the old keywords should be re-run through spiceinit.
-    if (kernels["InstrumentPointing"][0].toUpper() == "NADIR") {
+    if (kernels["InstrumentPointing"][0].toUpper() == "NADIR" && !isUsingAle()) {
       if (m_instrumentRotation) {
         delete m_instrumentRotation;
         m_instrumentRotation = NULL;