Biden to tap former Senator Bill Nelson as NASA chief
Washington, DC-President Biden has tapped former Democratic Senator Bill Nelson for NASA administrator, according to three people familiar with the decision. Nelson would command the space agency as it races to return humans to the Moon, bolsters climate research, and expands its reliance on a flourishing commercial space industry.
The decision comes nearly two months after Biden took office and as the White House remains silent on rolling out any space policy agenda.
Nelson represented Florida’s Space Coast as a state legislator in the 1970s and championed NASA through his time in Congress. In 1986, he became the second sitting member of Congress to fly to space, riding aboard Space Shuttle Columbia as a payload specialist. The centrist Democrat served three terms in the Senate until losing his bid for reelection in 2018 to former Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
Sen. Marco Rubio, who was Nelson’s Republican colleague from Florida, was pleased to hear Biden’s decision for NASA administrator, saying in a statement “I cannot think of anyone better to lead NASA than Bill Nelson.”
“His nomination gives me confidence that the Biden Administration finally understands the importance of the Artemis program, and the necessity of winning the 21st century space race. I look forward to supporting Bill’s swift confirmation, and working with him in the years to come,” Sen. Rubio said.
As a senator, Nelson railed against the cancellation of NASA’s Shuttle program and was a leading voice in Congress, pushing to protect thousands of Shuttle-related jobs on Florida’s Space Coast. Those jobs were ultimately lost when the program retired in 2011. Many of those workers eventually went to work on NASA’s new massive rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS), a multibillion-dollar program that Nelson staunchly supported.
