NASA
Not the first time, I was wrong. And I knew it when he was interviewed by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson earlier this month.
“Before I ask you a question, I just want to say one thing,” I said at the beginning of our discussion. “When you were named administrator, I wrote some critical things about you, and I was wrong about them.”
Nelson laughed in response.
“As a politician, I have to say I am used to criticism,” he said. “If I remembered all the criticism I’ve received over the years, I’d be a basket case. I’ve had enough criticism at home from the coaching I received from Grace Nelson. And my professional life.” , I don’t remember it.”
President Biden appointed Nelson as NASA administrator on March 21, 2021. He was also a critic of the commercial space industry, which government agencies increasingly rely on for low-cost services. He severely criticized the former administrator, Jim Bridenstine. (Nelson was a politician for his 45 years before heading NASA.) my story about his nomination reflected these concerns.
This was not an issue during the nomination process. A former colleague in the U.S. Senate, where Mr. Nelson served for his 18 years, quickly confirmed his position by voice vote.
Since then, Nelson has led NASA like a politician. Behind the scenes, he secured two talented lieutenants to help him: Pam Melroy, his second woman to command the space shuttle, became his second-in-command. Nelson’s friend and another former shuttle commander, Bob Kavanagh, was tapped to become sub-administrator, and Nelson delegated the technical details to them. And he did what he does best: chatting.
Along the way, he’s charmed almost everyone, including some of us in the skeptical media. Often he speaks in cliches and generalities. But he gets his job done. Ask most people Nelson had contact with during his tenure as an administrator and you’ll get a few variations: “He’s worked for the agency, he’s a really nice guy.”
Nelson does not deserve all the credit for the space agency’s accomplishments in the eighteen months since he took office. Many of these projects started years or decades ago. But he led them to their goals and ushered the agency into the golden age of many programs. Consider some of NASA’s recent accomplishments.
- Launch and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope, a $10 billion project that could have easily gone awry
- Successful launch and flight of the long-delayed Artemis I mission marks the return of NASA astronauts to deep space
- Maintaining a fragile International Space Station partnership with Russia amid the turmoil of Russia’s war against Ukraine
- The DART impact mission was a success, finally fulfilling NASA’s mission to demonstrate the ability to deflect an asteroid
- Secure full funding for the Artemis program, including spacesuits and SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander
Given the above achievements, 2022 could be NASA’s best year since 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Moreover, the future of space agencies is bright. For its Science Directorate, NASA officials can point to the success of a series of ongoing science missions. Originality and ingenuity For example, helicopters are still flying over Mars more than a year later. It also has a pipeline of upcoming exploration missions, including returning Martian rocks to Earth while visiting the interesting moons of Europa and Titan. And when it comes to humanity, for the first time since Apollo, NASA is on a credible path to manned lunar exploration and perhaps one day Mars exploration with the Artemis program.
Nelson had the good sense to double down on the Artemis created by his predecessor, Bridenstine. I have ruined my work. However, Nelson has admired Artemis since day one. He is also loyal to his sustainability goals.
