President Biden has urged former Democratic Senator Bill Nelson to become NASA administrator, according to three people familiar with the decision. Nelson, a politically experienced ally of the government, will steer the space agency as he rushes to bring people back to the moon, bolster his climate research and expand his confidence in a thriving commercial space industry.
A former congressman and three-time U.S. senator from Florida, Nelson, would succeed former President Trump’s NASA chief Jim Bridenstine, whose experience in Congress was key to supporting the Artemis program, an ambitious campaign to use the moon as a springboard for future astronaut missions to Mars.
Biden’s decision comes almost two months after he took office, and because the White House is largely silent on the implementation of any space policy agenda. Senate and NASA staff members who were informally briefed on Biden’s decision this week were told that a formal announcement would be made about Nelson’s nomination this week, three sources said under anonymity to discuss private talks before the announcement. be done. Former astronaut Pam Melroy is being considered for Nelson’s deputy, one of the sources said.
Rumors that Biden had considered leading Nelson as NASA had been working openly in the space industry for about a month, but the White House and NASA first confirmed the choice.
Nelson represented Florida’s Space Coast as a state legislator in the 1970s and campaigned for NASA during his time in Congress. In 1986, he became the second sitting member of Congress to fly into space as a cargo specialist aboard Space Shuttle Columbia. Nelson, a moderate Democrat, served three terms in the Senate until he lost his bid for re-election in 2018 to former Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
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