Biden chooses ex-senator who flew in space to lead NASA
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — 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.
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. His commander was Charles Bolden Jr., who later served as NASA administrator under President Barack Obama — at Nelson’s urging.
Ten days after their flight ended, space shuttle Challenger was destroyed shortly after liftoff and all seven astronauts were killed.
Nelson, who has a law degree and is a former captain in the Army Reserve, 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 by former Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
In 2017, Nelson criticized Bridenstine’s nomination by President Donald Trump, saying the Oklahoma lawmaker was too hawkishly partisan to be the leader of NASA.
Bridenstine instead offered kind praise Friday and urged Nelson’s confirmation “without delay.”
Some space observers had hoped to see the first woman at NASA’s helm.
“It’s time for a female administrator. Plenty of qualified candidates,” retired space shuttle director and program manager Wayne Hale tweeted this month. He is also a member of the NASA Advisory Council.