https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/02/science/jim-bridenstine-nasa-trump.html
Representative Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma at a rally in Tulsa in 2016. CreditSue Ogrocki/Associated Press
Representative Jim Bridenstine, Republican of Oklahoma, will be nominated by President Trump to serve as NASA’s next administrator, the White House said on Friday night.
Mr. Bridenstine, a strong advocate for drawing private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin more deeply into NASA’s exploration of space, had been rumored to be the leading candidate for the job, but months passed without an announcement. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Bridenstine, 42, would be the first elected official to hold that job.
The previous administrator, Charles F. Bolden Jr., stepped down on Jan. 20, the first day of Mr. Trump’s presidency. Since then, Robert M. Lightfoot Jr., the associate administrator, has served as acting administrator. Mr. Lightfoot’s 225 days as of Saturday have already set a record for the longest time NASA has been without a permanent leader.
“I am pleased to have Representative Bridenstine nominated to lead our team,” Mr. Lightfoot said in a statement. “Of course, the nomination must go through the Senate confirmation process, but I look forward to ensuring a smooth transition and sharing the great work the NASA team is doing.”
Although NASA has little presence in Oklahoma, Mr. Bridenstine, a former Navy Reserve pilot who is now in his third term in the House Representatives, has long had an interest in space. Before being elected to Congress in 2012, he was executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium from 2008 to 2010.
Last year, he sponsored a bill called the American Space Renaissance Act, which proposed broad, ambitious goals for the nation’s space program, including directing NASA to devise a 20-year plan. Even when he introduced it, he acknowledged that he did not expect it to become law but to serve as a starting point for space issues.
“What we did is we created discussions, and we were able to get parts of that bill incorporated in other legislation,” Mr. Bridenstine said during a talk at the Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington in February.
Mr. Bridenstine has supported a return to the moon, a departure from the Obama administration’s focus on sending astronauts to Mars in coming decades.
“This is our Sputnik moment,” he wrote in a blog post in November. “America must forever be the pre-eminent spacefaring nation and the moon is a path to being so.”
Mr. Bridenstine has also expressed support for the Space Launch System, an expensive heavy-lift rocket that NASA is developing, and Orion, a capsule that would eventually take astronauts to deep-space destinations.
Representative Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma at a rally in Tulsa in 2016. CreditSue Ogrocki/Associated Press
Representative Jim Bridenstine, Republican of Oklahoma, will be nominated by President Trump to serve as NASA’s next administrator, the White House said on Friday night.
Mr. Bridenstine, a strong advocate for drawing private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin more deeply into NASA’s exploration of space, had been rumored to be the leading candidate for the job, but months passed without an announcement. If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Bridenstine, 42, would be the first elected official to hold that job.
The previous administrator, Charles F. Bolden Jr., stepped down on Jan. 20, the first day of Mr. Trump’s presidency. Since then, Robert M. Lightfoot Jr., the associate administrator, has served as acting administrator. Mr. Lightfoot’s 225 days as of Saturday have already set a record for the longest time NASA has been without a permanent leader.
“I am pleased to have Representative Bridenstine nominated to lead our team,” Mr. Lightfoot said in a statement. “Of course, the nomination must go through the Senate confirmation process, but I look forward to ensuring a smooth transition and sharing the great work the NASA team is doing.”
Although NASA has little presence in Oklahoma, Mr. Bridenstine, a former Navy Reserve pilot who is now in his third term in the House Representatives, has long had an interest in space. Before being elected to Congress in 2012, he was executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium from 2008 to 2010.
Last year, he sponsored a bill called the American Space Renaissance Act, which proposed broad, ambitious goals for the nation’s space program, including directing NASA to devise a 20-year plan. Even when he introduced it, he acknowledged that he did not expect it to become law but to serve as a starting point for space issues.
“What we did is we created discussions, and we were able to get parts of that bill incorporated in other legislation,” Mr. Bridenstine said during a talk at the Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington in February.
Mr. Bridenstine has supported a return to the moon, a departure from the Obama administration’s focus on sending astronauts to Mars in coming decades.
“This is our Sputnik moment,” he wrote in a blog post in November. “America must forever be the pre-eminent spacefaring nation and the moon is a path to being so.”
Mr. Bridenstine has also expressed support for the Space Launch System, an expensive heavy-lift rocket that NASA is developing, and Orion, a capsule that would eventually take astronauts to deep-space destinations.
... Blah, blah, blah!! Nasa has been around for 60 - 80yrs, besides TANG! Name 3 things they have done to make our lives better??
