Trump taps congressman as next NASA administrator

Oklahoma Republican champions commercial access to space

WASHINGTON - Jim Bridenstine, the Oklahoma Republican congressman President Trump tapped late Friday as NASA’s next administrator, is someone who champions commercial access to space, thinks a return to the moon is vital to U.S. strategic interests, and has dismissed the science behind climate change.

If the Senate confirms the 42-year-old former Navy flier, he would be the first elected politician to hold a job that’s been the purview of scientists, engineers and astronauts.

Bridenstine, who sits on the House Science, Space and Technology and the Armed Services committees, doesn’t have a formal science background. His last job before being elected to represent Oklahoma’s 1st District in 2012 was as executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium.

A low-key member of Congress serving his third term, the Rice University graduate has won praise for his work advancing the interests of the emerging commercial space industry.

“He’s well versed on the broad spectrum on civil, commercial, military space. He really understands a lot of the pressing issues that the industry and the government face in this spectrum,” said Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, an industry trade group.

Bridenstine has made it clear he wants the U.S. to re-establish its dominance on and around the moon, a destination that the Obama administration had ignored as it focused NASA’s resources on a mission to Mars.

“We all want to get to Mars in 2033 (but the moon) is critically important to the geo-political position of the United States of America,” he said in a February hearing of the space committee.

Republicans are expected to keep the seat If Bridenstine wins confirmation. Trump won the district by 61 percent last year.

Bridenstine’s nomination, announced days before Vice President Pence is expected to convene his first National Space Council meeting, is generating pushback.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fl., the top Democrat on the Commerce, Science and Technology Committee that will handle Bridenstine’s confirmation, said appointing a member of Congress to run NASA could hurt the agency’s reputation as a non-political institution.

“The head of NASA ought to be a space professional, not a politician,” he said in a statement released Saturday.

Democrats like Nelson also are likely to bring up Bridenstine’s dismissal of climate change during a floor speech in 2013.

“Global temperatures stopped rising 10 years ago,” Bridenstine said, refuting the conclusion of the scientific community.