Categories: Astronomy

Administrator Charles Bolden?

Charles Bolden. Credit: NASA

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NBC news is reporting former astronaut Charles F. Bolden Jr. will meet with President Obama in the Oval Office on Monday morning and likely will be appointed the new NASA administrator. NASA has been without an administrator since January, and needs leadership as it faces big changes in the next few years, including the retirement of the space shuttle and the development of replacement vehicles to send humans to space. Bolden has flown four times to space, with more than 680 hours in Earth orbit. If appointed, he would be the first African-American administrator at NASA.

Bolden is regarded as a quiet man but not shy. He made his first spaceflight 23 years ago, and flew on the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope.

Florida senator Bill Nelson flew in space with Bolden in 1986, just before the Challenger tragedy. “Charlie’s credentials are top-notch,” Nelson said. Former administrator Michael Griffin said Bolden would be “perfect” for the job.

Source: MSNBC

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/