US President Joe Biden has just appointed former Democratic Senator Bill Nelson as Administrator of NASA. This administration ally will be responsible for guiding an agency that is supposed to return humans to the Moon and strengthen its climate research work. But his appointment is not unanimous.
On January 20, the day of Joe Biden's inauguration as leader of the country, Jim Bridenstine left his post as NASA administrator, a position he had held since April 2018. His tenure will have been short, but his past experience in Congress has still proven essential in rallying support for the Artemis program. Since then, his deputy Steve Jurczyk has taken over until a new leader is appointed. This new chef is Bill Nelson.
The 78-year-old centrist Democrat was first elected to the Florida State House of Representatives in 1972, before being re-elected in 1974 and 1976. He then became a member of the United States House of Representatives in 1978 before being re-elected every two years until 1988. Then, in 2000, Nelson became a Senator from Florida, won two more terms before ultimately losing re-election in 2018 to former Governor Rick Scott.
Nelson has also been a defender of NASA throughout his political career, including speaking out against the cancellation of the Space Shuttle program.
In 1986, he even became the second congressman to fly into space. The senator flew aboard Shuttle Columbia as a payload specialist on mission STS-61C.
In reality, not everyone saw this theft very favorably. In his book Riding Rockets , former astronaut Mike Mullane indeed recounts very colorfully the "antics" of Nelson, who, according to Mullane, was only looking for good publicity.
“He wanted to be a crew member and do something really important “, writes Mullane. There was just one problem. None of the principal investigators on the mission wanted Nelson anywhere near their equipment. "They had a chance to fly their experiments, had worked for months on how best to make them work, and didn't want a politician to ruin it at the last moment “.
On paper, then, we have a very experienced politician, a true ally of the Biden administration and, what is more, passionate about space. However, his upcoming election is not unanimous.
Senator Marco Rubio, who was Nelson's Republican colleague in Florida, was delighted to hear the news. "I can't think of anyone better than Bill Nelson to lead NASA “, he recently said in a statement. “His nomination gives me confidence that the Biden administration finally understands the importance of the Artemis program and the need to win the space race of the 21st century. I look forward to working with him in the years to come “.
On the other hand, some had hoped that Biden would choose a woman to lead NASA, which has been run only by men so far. Astronaut Pam Melroy and Ellen Stofan, the director of the National Air and Space Museum, were reportedly considered for the job. Eventually, the first will be appointed deputy, while the second has just accepted the post of undersecretary for science and research at the Smithsonian.
Biden's choice to bring in Nelson also drew mixed reactions to his view of the NASA-SpaceX relationship which many believe represents the future of the space sector. .
The former senator presents himself as a fervent supporter of the Space Launch System (SLS) program, NASA's most powerful rocket since the Apollo Saturn V program. he former senator is said to have lobbied a Republican senator a lot to get NASA to continue building this huge rocket itself, rather than going through private companies like SpaceX.
Nelson is also known to be wary of Elon Musk. According to a report to Ars Technica, he even asked agency officials to keep "their boy" under control.
However, the development of the SLS has been marred by numerous delays and billions in cost overruns, while privately built rockets, such as those from SpaceX, are increasingly taking more place in the industry.
