Comments Made On Bill Nelson's Senate Confirmation as NASA Administrator

News/Analysis/Commentary By Jim Campbell, ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief

After earning much enmity and disrespect from many in the NASA community several years ago after wangling himself a rare seat on a Space Shuttle flight--which reportedly booted a researcher intent on doing real science--Bill Nelson is now NASA's new Boss.

That's a tough pill to swallow for several early generation, astronauts who are not thrilled... but many of them have little to do with NASA these days and may now be glad of that fact.

The only saving grace in this is that the Senator's support for older boondoggles that have (so far) gone nowhere (while spending billions) is now replaced by greater respect and emphasis on the Commercial Space industry (i.e., SpaceX)... but no one knows a winner like a politician... and how to jump on the bandwagon.

Nelson was confirmed Thursday.

The following are statements from Sen. Bill Nelson and acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk on Thursday's U.S. Senate confirmation of Nelson as the 14th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration:

"I am honored by the President's nomination and the Senate vote," Nelson said. "I will try to merit that trust. Onward and upward!"

"I'm happy to welcome Bill to the NASA family," said Jurczyk. "It's been an amazing year for NASA and our commercial and international partners, and I look forward to working with Bill and the Biden-Harris Administration to build on the incredible momentum we've built so far. It has been an honor to serve as acting administrator, but it's the NASA workforce that makes the agency one-of-a-kind. Thank you for all you do to advance NASA's critical missions."

FMI: www.nasa.gov