Former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was officially chosen as the next NASA administrator on Friday, ending speculation that the Biden administration would pick a woman to lead the agency that has always been run by men.
Nelson, 78, of Orlando, was considered one of the staunch advocates of NASA and the space program during his 40 years in Washington, including while he served as the ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee that oversaw the program.
If confirmed by the Senate, Nelson will take over NASA at a pivotal time for space exploration, which has been steadily moving away from government projects to private ventures. Many will look to him to build upon the successes of SpaceX, for example, which in the past year has launched six astronauts to the International Space Station — the first crewed launches from American soil since the Shuttle Program ended in 2011.
“I am honored to be nominated by Joe Biden and, if confirmed, to help lead NASA into an exciting future of possibilities,” Nelson said in a statement. “Its workforce radiates optimism, ingenuity and a can-do spirit. The NASA team continues to achieve the seemingly impossible as we venture into the cosmos.”
While the choice of Nelson has drawn wide bipartisan support, including from Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Trump’s outgoing administrator Jim Bridenstine, others found it surprising, pointing to Nelson’s age and past comments about who he believes is best suited to manage NASA.
Some saw it as a missed opportunity to put a woman in the role for the first time, pointing to Biden’s NASA transition team that included five women. Some have speculated that Pam Melroy, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a former NASA astronaut who flew on three space shuttle missions, will be named deputy administrator.
“Given how many qualified and talented women were rumored to be in consideration, (Biden is) putting great trust in his former Senate colleague,” Lori Garver, a former deputy administrator of NASA during the Obama administration, told the New York Times.
During the hearing to confirm Bridenstine, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, Nelson stressed that a politician shouldn’t be in charge of NASA. “This committee has heard me say many times: NASA is not political. The leader of NASA should not be political,” he argued at the time. “The NASA administrator should be a consummate space professional who is technically and scientifically competent and is a skilled executive.”
Nelson served six terms in Congress and three as a senator before he was unseated by Florida’s former governor, Republican Rick Scott, in 2018.
Nelson’s involvement with NASA’s behind-schedule and over-budget rocket for returning to the moon, the $20 billion Space Launch System under development since 2011, has also drawn criticism from the space industry. So has Nelson’s initial skepticism of leaning on private companies to further space exploration, something he’s since grown supportive of.
“His opinion of the ability of the commercial sector evolved as those capabilities were demonstrated, which is good,” said Dale Ketcham, vice president of Space Florida, adding that he supported the pick. “Clearly, the guy can learn.”
Nelson also co-sponsored a 2010 bill allowing commercial companies to start their own space programs.
However, Simon Porter, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, called the choice “incredibly dumb,” comparing the decision to “Trump putting oil executives in charge of EPA.” He questioned if lobbyists behind SLS contracts had stumped for Nelson.
“If you think a 78-year-old white man whose major space policy achievements were A) getting a joyride (on the) Shuttle and B) creating the largest money pit in NASA’s history would be a good NASA administrator, you may be a 78-year-old white man who is a crony of him,” Porter tweeted.
Critics have also argued that Nelson isn’t a real astronaut.
As a congressman, Nelson flew as a payload specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia in January 1986, the last mission before the Challenger disaster. He was part of a seven-member crew that went on the six-day journey, during which the team conducted science experiments and launched a communications satellite.
But some in the space industry have said Nelson was not qualified and got a seat on the Shuttle using his political influence. It’s an open secret Nelson was nicknamed “Ballast” by his crewmates.
“None of the principal investigators of any of the experiments manifested on the mission wanted Nelson anywhere near their equipment,” former NASA astronaut Mike Mullane wrote in his book Riding Rockets. “They were getting one chance to fly their experiments, had been working with the astronauts for months on how to best operate the equipment, and had no desire to have a nontechnical politician step in at the last moment and screw things up.”
But Nelson’s past as a politician could be beneficial to the agency. One of the main responsibilities of the administrator is lobbying for funding for NASA’s budget.
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“Regardless of who the administrator is ... whoever’s there has used to their political clout, their knowledge of Washington politics, friends and acquaintances who might be useful, to do well for the agency,” said Roger Launius, a former chief historian for NASA. “(Nelson’s) background is long and deep when it comes to space activities. From that standpoint, he’s got a lot of knowledge.”
Others also saw Nelson as a smart move – a centrist politician who went to bat for Florida’s Space Coast.
Ketcham said he was encouraged to see someone at the helm again who “has a long legacy of … readily and easily working across party lines for the good of the agency and U.S. leadership in space.”
In a statement Thursday, Rubio said, “I cannot think of anyone better to lead NASA than Bill Nelson.” U.S. Reps. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, and Val Demings, D-Orlando, also joined the chorus backing Nelson.
Nelson also drew support from outgoing administrator Bridenstine, despite the comments Nelson made during Bridenstine’s own confirmation hearing.
“Bill Nelson is an excellent pick for NASA Administrator. The Senate should confirm Bill Nelson without delay,” Bridenstine said in a statement, adding that he believes Nelson has the political clout, diplomatic skills and influence to lead the United States back to the moon and eventually to Mars.
cglenn@orlandosentinel.com; slemongello@orlandosentinel.com