NASA Administrator Plans to Leave Position under Biden Administration

By Staff, Agencies

The head of America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NASA] Jim Bridenstine said he plans to leave his position at the space agency under the new Joe Biden administration, even if he’s asked to stay, according to an interview he did with Aviation Week.

Bridenstine said the decision would be to ensure NASA has the right leader who connects with the new president.

“What you need is somebody who has a close relationship with the president of the United States,” Bridenstine told Aviation Week. “You need somebody who is trusted by the administration…. including the OMB [Office of Management and Budget], the National Space Council and the National Security Council, and I think that I would not be the right person for that in a new administration.”

Trump nominated Bridenstine, then a Republican representative from Oklahoma, to lead NASA in 2017. His confirmation became a contentious one, with many lawmakers decrying the idea of a politician running a scientific agency like NASA.

“NASA is one of the last refuges from partisan politics,” former Sen. Bill Nelson [D-FL] said during Bridenstine’s confirmation hearing in November 2017.

The NASA chief said he doesn’t know what he will do next and that he hasn’t even started thinking about it. “After you’ve run NASA, to go from doing this to whatever I do next is going to be really hard,” he said.

“This has been the greatest experience of my life by far, and I’m so grateful for it. But I am under no illusions. There are a lot of people that can do great work as the NASA administrator.”