The White House has nominated Charles Bolden to be the next NASA Administrator.
A retired Marine Corps major general and former astronaut who piloted the space shuttle that carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in 1990, Bolden has been considered a top candidate for the job since President Obama鈥檚 election.
President Obama also nominated Lori Garver, a Washington space consultant who was his top space advisor during the presidential campaign, to be deputy administrator.
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If approved by Congress, Bolden faces major challenges at NASA. The agency is facing a five-year gap between the scheduled retirement of the space shuttle in 2010 and the development of its replacement, the Ares I rocket. A panel headed by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine is taking a fresh look at alternatives, including modifying existing expendable launch vehicles to carry astronauts.
NASA鈥檚 science programme is also still suffering from cuts the Bush administration made two years ago to pay for Ares. NASA鈥檚 budget is so tight that 鈥渓ittle or nothing can be done well, compromising the entire programme鈥�, warns Eugene Levy, a space scientist at Rice University.
鈥楶arallel endeavours鈥�
Well-regarded in the space community, Bolden told a Senate subcommittee three years ago that human space exploration and science were 鈥減arallel endeavours that are mutually supportive if we are to realise success in either鈥�.
He was also a member of a panel that in 2004 to make the just-completed repairs.
鈥淐harlie grasped the scientific imperative, and contributed importantly to the discussion of shuttle capabilities and issues,鈥� recalls Louis Lanzerotti, a solar physicist at the New Jersey Institute of Technology who chaired the panel. 鈥淚 think he鈥檇 be a fine administrator.鈥�
Aerospace ties
Between 1986 and 1994, Bolden piloted two shuttle missions, commanded two others, and served a brief stint as assistant deputy administrator of NASA.
He is now an aerospace consultant and until last year, was a director of the parent company of Aerojet, a NASA contractor supplying propulsion systems. For several months in 2005, he was a registered lobbyist for the aerospace firm .
Some observers worry about Bolden鈥檚 ties to the space establishment. Aerospace analyst Charles Lurio worries that Bolden will overlook start-up firms when choosing rocket launchers, favouring big aerospace companies instead.
If his nomination is approved, Bolden would be the first black administrator and the second former astronaut to hold the job. The first was navy vice admiral Richard Truly, who held the post from 1989 to 1992.
