![]() Nelson declined to run for re-election in 1990, making a failed bid to be the Democratic nominee in that year’s election for Florida governor. During this same period, he also supported and maintained oversight of the project that would eventually become the International Space Station. The disaster was a moment of reckoning for NASA management, which was found to have fostered an overly cavalier attitude toward mission safety.ĭuring his time as subcommittee chair, Nelson was focused on maintaining “assured access to space” for the U.S., which only intensified after Challenger, when he convened additional hearings on the recovery of the shuttle program. Floating to the right of him is the shuttle’s pilot, Charlie Bolden, who served as NASA administrator from 2009 to 2017.Īlthough NASA intended to include other politicians on future shuttle missions, 10 days after Nelson’s flight concluded the shuttle Challenger exploded on launch, killing its crew, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. Bill Nelson (D-FL), third from left, aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1986. Jake Garn (R-UT), who was then the lead Senate appropriator for NASA. He became chair of the House subcommittee responsible for NASA policy in 1985, and in that position became the second politician to fly aboard the shuttle, following Sen. House, representing the district encompassing NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at the dawn of the space shuttle era. ![]() Nelson received a law degree from the University of Virginia, and, following stints in the Army and as a staff member in the Florida governor’s office, he won election to Florida’s House of Representatives in 1972. He attended the University of Florida before transferring to Yale University, where, indicative of his lifelong interest in NASA, he wrote a thesis titled, The Impact of Cape Kennedy on Brevard County Politics. Nelson has often stressed the depth of his home-state roots, pointing out that he is a fifth-generation Floridian. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), partly on the grounds that Bridenstine was not a “consummate space professional.” Nevertheless, Nelson’s selection has beenīroadly welcomed in Congress and he is unlikely to face serious obstacles to his own confirmation. Set out when he unsuccessfully opposed the nomination of the last NASA administrator, then-Rep. Nelson also does not meet the standard he himself ![]() ![]() While Nelson has given comparatively little attention to the agency’s science programs, he has generally been supportive of them as part and parcel of his support for the agency as a whole.Īt 78, Nelson is set to be the oldest administrator in NASA’s history by a significant margin, and his nominationĭefies earlier speculation that Biden would choose a woman to lead the agency for the first time. In recent years, he has had his greatest impact as an advocate for developing NASA’s controversial Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket. In championing NASA, Nelson has focused on promoting its human spaceflight program, and in 1986 he arranged to fly aboard the space shuttle Columbia. He is also someone Biden knows well from the eight years they served together in the Senate. Nelson has maintained a strong interest in the agency over the course of his career, including for a combined total of 14 years as the chair of the House and Senate subcommittees responsible for space policy. Bill Nelson (D-FL) speaking during a 2010 visit by President Obama to the Kennedy Space Center.Īnnounced his nomination of former congressman and senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) to be NASA administrator. ![]()
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