NASA’s two top jobs may be vacant

Acting administrator plans to retire April 30

The impending departure of acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot could leave the space agency’s two top positions vacant.

He announced this week that he’d retire from NASA on April 30, ending a 29-year-career with the agency that began as a test engineer in 1989.

“He has kept the agency on a very even keel,” said John Logsdon, a space historian who established George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute in 1987. “He has recognized the limits of his acting administrator position along with the fact that he can’t just be totally passive.”

Lightfoot has overseen the agency since his appointment Jan. 20, 2017, when President Donald Trump’s administration took office. He has been operating without a deputy administrator since Lesa Roe left the position Sept. 30.

“That is also a big hole,” Logsdon said. “There is a reason why the deputy is a presidential nominee.”

Trump last year nominated U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma for the full-time post. But that nomination stalled when politicians, including Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, said the agency should be led by someone with space credentials.

In a statement after news of Lightfoot’s departure, Nelson said Lightfoot is owed a debt of gratitude before turning the spotlight on the vacancy.

“Longer term, the White House needs to nominate a space professional for NASA administrator who will actually garner strong bipartisan support,” he said. “The current nominee doesn’t have the votes.”

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told the news site Politico that Bridenstine’s appointment could be “devastating for the space program.”

Pinpointing the effects of operating without an administrator or deputy administrator can be difficult, said Dale Ketcham, Space Florida’s Chief of Strategic Alliances.

However, the vacancy comes just as NASA prepares for the debut launch of its new Space Launch System and the Orion launch vehicle in December 2019. It’s unfortunate that there has been this lack of permanent leadership in the country’s deep-space exploration program,” he said.

The lack of an administrator won’t be catastrophic immediately, said Ray Lugo, director of the University of Central Florida’s Space Institute.

Lightfoot’s job has been to serve as a go-between for his employees and politicians. His institutional knowledge gathered during nearly three decades at NASA will be hard to replace, Lugo said.

“It’s going to be hard to push things that require direct communication with the administration,” he said. “The problems will come if you need a decision that rises above the routine ones.”