NASA chief Jim Bridenstine will not stay under new president

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Current space agency administrator Jim Bridenstine, appointed by Trump who took office in 2018, plans to step down even though he is asked to stay because NASA will “need someone in whom ‘administration has confidence,’ he told Aviation Week. A source familiar with the matter confirmed Bridenstine’s plans to CNN Business.

The news surprises the space community, as do many of the actors who had been pushing for Biden’s camp to keep Bridenstine in his role.

But his comments to Aviation Week confirmed his willingness to step down from the role even if asked to stay. Bridenstine positioned his decision as one that would serve NASA’s best interests.

“What you need is someone who has a close relationship with the President of the United States. You need someone who has the confidence of the administration … including the OMB [Office of Management and Budget], the National Space Council, and the National Security Council, and I think I wouldn’t be the right fit for that in a new administration, ”Bridenstine told Aviation Week.

Here's how NASA fared under Trump

Bridenstine could not immediately be reached for further comment.

While the vast majority of NASA employees have long-term careers in the space agency, it’s common for new presidents to install new leadership at NASA headquarters in Washington DC.

President Donald Trump’s decision to appoint Bridenstine, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, was initially met with broad rejection on Capitol Hill. The space agency is typically headed by a scientist, former astronaut, or publicly apolitical figure, and many lawmakers feared that Bridenstine’s appointment would irrevocably politicize NASA and its efforts to bring humans back to the moon and conduct research on it. the climate. Bridenstine had also made earlier comments expressing doubts about the role of human activity in the climate crisis.

But in his confirmation hearings in the Senate and in subsequent town halls at NASA, Bridenstine made it clear that he had changed his mind and fully accepted a broad scientific consensus, and he expressed support for climate research efforts. from NASA. He also won bipartisan support and many private sector cheerleaders for his management of the NASA Commercial Crew Program, an Obama-era effort to make manned space flight capabilities in the United States. after the withdrawal from the space shuttle program. The commercial crew program reached its peak earlier this year when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft transported two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

Bridenstine also helped guide NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon, which last year Vice President Mike Pence said would need to be sped up dramatically. Bridenstine dubbed it the Artemis program, named after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology, and vowed that the next moon landing would bring the very first woman to the lunar surface.

Biden is expected to continue with Artemis agenda: official party platform says Democrats “support NASA’s work to bring Americans back to the moon and beyond Mars.”

This weekend, four more astronauts are expected to make the trip to the ISS aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. One of the crew, NASA’s Shannon Walker, was asked about Bridenstine’s decision to step down from the space agency when Biden takes office.

“I know it’s customary for members of the administration to resign, and then we have to go from there,” Walker told reporters at a press briefing Monday on his next assignment. “Honestly, I have no idea what’s going to come next. I guess we’re going to continue our Artemis mission and continue doing what we did at NASA because that’s what we’re doing.”

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