Jim Bridenstine Approved as NASA Administrator
The wait is finally over. Jim Bridenstine has been approved by the Senate to become NASA's 13th Administrator, ending the longest period the agency has been without a permanent director in the agency's history.
Today, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Jim Bridenstine as our 13th administrator. Once sworn in, he will oversee our ongoing mission of exploration and discovery. Welcome to the NASA family! pic.twitter.com/r1Eiyb13PY
- NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2018
Bridenstine, formerly a Republican Representative from Oklahoma, has focused on space for much of his career. The former Navy Reserve pilot was once executive director of the Tulsa Air & Space Museum and during his time in Congress introduced the American Space Renaissance Act (ASRA), which, among other things, would give NASA Administrators a five-year fixed term (currently, the Administrator serves as long as the sitting President wants).
While Bridenstine, 42, is deeply versed in the utilities of space for both military and commercial uses, his lack of a scientific background and history as a politician are a break in tradition for NASA Administrators.
Floridian Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, strenuously opposed Bridenstine's lack of expertise. Citing some of the most tragic moments in NASA history, including the 1986 Challenger explosion and 2003 Space Shuttle Colombia disaster, Nelson said that to make decisions about missions, "the Administrator must draw on all of his or her knowledge of engineering principals and of space flight, and all of his experience of managing large technological organizations, and every bit of judgment, reason and impartiality he or she can muster, because leading NASA is for an experienced and proven space professional."
Bridenstine has also faced severe critiques for his stance on climate change, which falls under the purview of NASA's Earth Sciences division. During Senate hearings, Bridenstine called NASA "the only agency in the world that can do" the type of science needed to better understanding global warming. But he refused to admit the scientific consensus that humanity is the primary cause of global warming. Encouraging further study of global warming while denying the current consensus is part of a pattern for Bridenstine, having expressed similar views in an interview with Aerospace America.
The ARSA, which deemed human travel to Mars one of NASA's top priorities, might offer some clues into Bridenstine's leadership. Although his approval was a divisive one at 50-49, he has understanding that NASA has a special role in American society.
Speaking at a Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon on March 21, 2017, he said that "NASA, of course, is...more popular than any agency. It's non-partisan, it's an agency that reflects what is really phenomenal about the United States of America."
Taking charge of the agency at a time of great division, Bridenstine now has the chance to make sure that the country's deep pride in NASA's accomplishments continues.
Source: New York Times
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