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Biden Space

Biden Nominates Nelson To Run NASA

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
March 19, 2021
Filed under
Biden Nominates Nelson To Run NASA

President Biden Announces his Intent to Nominate Bill Nelson for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, White House
“Most every piece of space and science law has had his imprint, including passing the landmark NASA bill of 2010 along with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson. That law set NASA on its present dual course of both government and commercial missions. In 1986 he flew on the 24th flight of the Space Shuttle. The mission on Columbia, orbited the earth 98 times during six days. Nelson conducted 12 medical experiments including the first American stress test in space and a cancer research experiment sponsored by university researchers. In the Senate he was known as the go-to senator for our nation’s space program. He now serves on the NASA Advisory Council.”
Keith’s note: Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine today released the following statement after the Biden administration nominated Senator Bill Nelson to lead NASA.

“Bill Nelson is an excellent pick for NASA Administrator. He has the political clout to work with President Biden’s Office of Management and Budget, National Security Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy, and bipartisan Members of the House and Senate. He has the diplomatic skills to lead an international coalition sustainably to the Moon and on to Mars. Bill Nelson will have the influence to deliver strong budgets for NASA and, when necessary, he will be able to enlist the help of his friend, President Joe Biden. The Senate should confirm Bill Nelson without delay.”

How ironic. Nelson used every nasty tool he had to try to thwart Bridenstine’s nomination. When Jim finally got in what did he do? He put Bill Nelson – who had been defeated in a re-election bid – on the NASA Advisory Council. There are so few class acts in politics and government today. Jim Bridenstine is one of them. Bill Nelson is not. Let’s hope that Nelson is able to rise above his past and become non-partisan and non-parochial and that he runs NASA for the American people and not just for Florida or one big rocket.
Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine Comments on Bill Nelson’s Nomination
Chairwoman Johnson and Subcommittee Chairman Beyer Applaud Nomination of Senator Bill Nelson for NASA Administrator
CSF statement on the nomination of Senator Bill Nelson (Ret.) for NASA Administrator
The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration Congratulates the NASA Space Launch System Team as U.S. Prepares to Return to the Moon
2021 Bill Nelson Wants To Be NASA Administrator – 2017 Bill Nelson Says He’s Not Qualified, earlier post
Sen. Nelson’s Effort To Undermine NASA by blocking Bridenstine, earlier post (2018)
Bill Nelson Continues To Block NASA Administrator Nominees, earlier post (2009)

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

15 responses to “Biden Nominates Nelson To Run NASA”

  1. Ray Gedaly says:
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    I’m now having to clean up my regurgitated breakfast.

  2. Doc H. Chen says:
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    Congratulations to NASA and the USA.

    • ed2291 says:
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      If you were paying attention then you would know this is potentially a giant step backward.

  3. Jonna31 says:
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    I still wish Bridenstine was offered a 2nd tour. Pretty much the only nominee to any department or agency Trump did right, and it was probably accidental.

    I wasn’t a believer in him when his name came up. A congressman?! Mostly just an enthusiast? But he ended up being just the man the times called for. Of course, I also think the NASA Administrator should have a 10 term like the FBI Director, so steady leadership can oversee long duration programs, and not just rotate through “President <insert names=””> Man at NASA”.

    Nelson? I mean, I just hope he doesn’t get in the way of commercial when the price tag for the second SLS flight comes home. He’s has old-way-of-doing-things and vintage-space-Florida-jobs-program written all over him.

    Meanwhile SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 every 7-10 days and tests a Starship prototype every 5 weeks or so.

    Nelson…. just… don’t touch anything.

    Also $10 says Elon Musk says something rude on twitter about him late at night within the first 12 months.

    • space1999 says:
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      Yeah, fully agree. Bridenstine was perhaps the sole competent Trump appointment… one of the best administrators in years IMO. Then this… maybe Nelson will retire after a year or two…

      • fcrary says:
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        Mr. Bridenstine may have been smart to leave. There is a good chance that SLS’ first orbital flight will be later than SpaceX’ first orbital Starship flight. There is a much better chance that Starship’s _second_ orbital flight will be before SLS’ second orbital flight. So in a year or two, the NASA Administrator will get to testify to Congress about the whole SLS mess. I think it’s possible that Mr. Bridenstine realized that and didn’t want to be the Administrator who has the… privilege… of doing so. And given his strong support for SLS over they years, Mr. Nelson is a fine person to be left holding the bag.

        • Jonna31 says:
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          I’m not sure about that. Don’t get me wrong, a world where Starship exists is a world where SLS is nothing but a black hole for money, but while Starship is making impressive progress, I think an orbital flight, and then regular launches are a good deal further out than Musk says. Probably mid to late 2024 for Starship. There is still far more testing and refinement to do for the Starship vehicle, then for Superheavy (which starts this year). Then both will undergo a modifications. Then integration and testing with each other. Even Starship right now is a pretty simple vehicle (in a manner of speaking): engines, fuel tanks, flight surfaces, computers and everything needed for it to fly, but no support for payloads, or life support or anything else. And that’s fine! That’s part of it’s developmental path. But that requires time. More time than I think many think it’ll take.

          The Falcon Heavy is a good example of this. By Musk’s own words, strapping 3 cores together took a lot more work than they first anticipated, but Falcon Heavy eventually did fly and its manifest going forward looks very promising.

          My personal prediction? The main space vehicle for SpaceX will be the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy for most of the 2020s. It’ll be the one that pays the bills and does most of the launches as Starship and Superheavy take annual and impressive strides in capability. Around 2027 or 2028, we’ll see them both fully operational and fully capable. And that’s fine. It’s just 7 more years. Big deal. I’m old enough to remember when Orion wouldn’t orbit the moon until the disasterous date of 2012 and how Ares V wasn’t going to fly until the far future of 2018.

          SLS will probably fly before Starship. But it’ll only fly a few times before Starship makes it entirely obsolete. If you want an anlogue, perhaps a good one is the Airbus A380, which took too long to get to market, and was so big and many ways a conceptual step backwards that it was out competed by more agile, smaller aircraft that sold far more. And now the A380 is done, having sold less than half it’s projected total within its first 10 years.

          If his purpose is to hold the bag for the end of the SLS program though, I’m fine with that. I do wonder if he’ll fight to keep Orion alive on top of the Vulcan Centaur Frankenstein’s Monster. Frankly that’s the perfect payload for that vehicle. And with Shelby on his way out, ULA is vulnerable too.

  4. space1999 says:
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    How depressing… truly disappointing.

  5. Richard H. Shores says:
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    It will be interesting how this goes. Nelson will probably be confirmed without much opposition. When Bridenstine was selected as NASA Administrator, I had serious doubts about his leadership. I was wrong and pleasantly surprised how well he ran NASA. I agree with Keith that
    Bridenstine is a class act and Nelson isn’t. My concern is that Nelson will attempt to push the commercial programs to the back burner and push NASA back to the same old, same old NASA, pouring money into the pie in the sky programs that eventually get cancelled.

    • Vladislaw says:
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      I don’t think he can anymore, not in Florida anyway. There are two many commercial players there now, same as in Alabama and Texas. I don’t know if the tipping point has been reached but we are very close.

  6. SouthwestExGOP says:
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    Bill Nelson will probably be ok but he is too supportive of Old Space and the “cost plus” contractors. We need new ideas but he is not a new ideas guy.

  7. Rusty Shackleford says:
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    If Nelson wants to reciprocate the sentiment, he should turn around and appoint Bridenstine to his now-vacant advisory council seat.

  8. Todd Martin says:
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    Bill Nelson is 78 years old and spent a lifetime advocating for Florida to receive NASA budget money. He isn’t going to change. He will support SLS and Orion and will win his nomination because of these traits. Those qualities are not anathema to commercial crew or commercial cargo. After all, ISS operations are an important part of the NASA budget that he wants to protect those as well. While SLS and orion are not the cheapest way to do lunar missions, it is worth celebrating that we have hardware under contract and in development now to put people on the moon. Bridenstine’s excellent work is not going to waste.

  9. Dr. Malcolm Davis says:
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    More…stagnation…then.

    Biden needed to take a bold step, and promote someone who got the significance of commercial space, rather than reinforcing a NASA Space 1.0 paradigm. This is risk averse which ultimately will see NASA fall further behind the commercial space sector – and indeed, probably see other states begin to eat away at the US space leadership position.

  10. spacechampion says:
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    Is this doom for orbital refueling and fuel depots studies?