Biden tabs former senator Bill Nelson to be NASA leader
He awaits Senate confirmation to be 14th administrator
President Joe Biden has chosen a former senator from Florida who flew on the space shuttle right before the Challenger accident to lead NASA.
Biden on Friday announced his intent to nominate Bill Nelson as the space agency’s administrator.
If confirmed by the Senate, Nelson will become NASA’S 14th administrator, succeeding another former member of Congress, Jim Bridenstine, a Republican from Oklahoma. Nelson currently serves on the NASA Advisory Council.
Nelson promised, if confirmed, to “help lead NASA into an exciting future of possibilities.” The space agency is working to send astronauts back to the moon this decade and counting more than ever on private U.S. companies and even other countries to get that job — and others — done.
“Its workforce radiates optimism, ingenuity and a can-do spirit,” Nelson said in a statement. “The NASA team continues to achieve the seemingly impossible as we venture into the cosmos.”
Nelson, 78, grew up near Cape Canaveral and was serving as a Democratic congressman when he launched aboard space shuttle Columbia on Jan. 12, 1986.
Just 10 days after their flight ended, Challenger was destroyed shortly after liftoff and all seven astronauts were killed.
Nelson, who holds a law degree and served in the military, also served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1991. He was elected in 2000 to the Senate, where he served until his defeat in 2018.