Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration | |
---|---|
Reports to | President |
Seat | Washington, D.C. |
Nominator | President with Senate advice and consent |
Term length | At the pleasure of the President |
Constituting instrument | 51 U.S.C. § 20111 |
Inaugural holder | Thomas Keith Glennan |
Salary | $221,900 annually (Executive Schedule II) |
Website | Bill Nelson, NASA |
The administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official of NASA, the national space agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible for providing clarity to the agency's vision and serving as a source of internal leadership within NASA. The office holder also has an important place within United States space policy, [1] and is assisted by a deputy administrator.
The administrator is appointed by the president of the United States, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, and thereafter serves at the president’s pleasure. Former senator and astronaut Bill Nelson has served as the administrator since May 3, 2021.
The administrator serves as NASA's chief executive officer, accountable to the President for the leadership necessary to achieve the agency's mission. This leadership requires articulating the agency's vision, setting its programmatic and budget priorities and internal policies, and assessing Agency performance. [2]
The first administrator of NASA was Dr. T. Keith Glennan; during his term he brought together the disparate projects in space development research in the US. [3] Daniel Goldin held the post for the longest term (nearly 10 years), and is best known for pioneering the "faster, better, cheaper" approach to space programs. [4] The only person to hold the post twice is James C. Fletcher, who returned to NASA following the Challenger disaster. [5]
The current administrator is former senator and astronaut Bill Nelson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden on March 19, 2021, [6] confirmed by the Senate on April 29, and officially sworn in on May 3. [7]
No. | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Days served | President serving under | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | T. Keith Glennan | August 19, 1958 | January 20, 1961 | 885 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | ||
- | Hugh Dryden | January 11, 1961 | February 14, 1961 | 24 | John F. Kennedy | ||
2 | James E. Webb | February 14, 1961 | October 7, 1968 | 1035 | |||
1781 (2816 total) | Lyndon B. Johnson | ||||||
3 | Thomas O. Paine | October 8, 1968 | March 21, 1969 | 104 | |||
60 | Richard Nixon | ||||||
March 21, 1969 | September 15, 1970 | 543 (707 total) | |||||
- | George Low | September 16, 1970 | April 26, 1971 | 222 | |||
4 | James C. Fletcher | April 27, 1971 | May 1, 1977 | 1200 | |||
895 | Gerald Ford | ||||||
101 (3258 total) | Jimmy Carter | ||||||
- | Alan M. Lovelace | May 2, 1977 | June 20, 1977 | 49 | |||
5 | Robert A. Frosch | June 21, 1977 | January 20, 1981 | 1309 | |||
- | Alan M. Lovelace | January 21, 1981 | July 10, 1981 | 171 (220 total) | Ronald Reagan | ||
6 | James M. Beggs | July 10, 1981 | December 4, 1985 | 1608 | |||
- | William Graham | December 4, 1985 | May 11, 1986 | 158 | |||
7 | James C. Fletcher | May 12, 1986 | April 8, 1989 | 984 | |||
78 (3258 total) | George H. W. Bush | ||||||
- | Dale D. Myers | April 8, 1989 | May 13, 1989 | 35 | |||
8 | Richard H. Truly | May 14, 1989 | June 30, 1989 | 47 | |||
July 1, 1989 | March 31, 1992 | 1004 (1052 total) | |||||
9 | Daniel Goldin | April 1, 1992 | November 17, 2001 | 294 | |||
2922 | Bill Clinton | ||||||
301 (3517 total) | George W. Bush | ||||||
- | Daniel Mulville | November 19, 2001 | December 21, 2001 | 32 | |||
10 | Sean O'Keefe | December 21, 2001 | February 11, 2005 | 1148 | |||
- | Frederick D. Gregory | February 11, 2005 | April 14, 2005 | 62 | |||
11 | Michael D. Griffin | April 14, 2005 | January 20, 2009 | 1377 | |||
- | Christopher Scolese | January 20, 2009 | July 17, 2009 | 178 | Barack Obama | ||
12 | Charles Bolden | July 17, 2009 | January 20, 2017 | 2744 | |||
- | Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. | January 20, 2017 | April 23, 2018 | 458 | Donald Trump | ||
13 | Jim Bridenstine | April 23, 2018 | January 20, 2021 | 1003 | |||
- | Steve Jurczyk | January 20, 2021 | May 3, 2021 | 103 | Joe Biden | ||
14 | Bill Nelson | May 3, 2021 | Incumbent | 1028 |
The line of succession for the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is as follows: [8]
In the event of there being no deputy administrator of NASA, and the associate administrator serving as acting administrator, then the deputy associate administrator assumes the role of acting deputy administrator.
Pamela Ann Melroy is an American retired United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut serving as the deputy administrator of NASA. She served as pilot on Space Shuttle missions STS-92 and STS-112 and commanded mission STS-120 before leaving the agency in August 2009. After serving as deputy program manager of Space Exploration Initiatives with Lockheed Martin, Melroy joined the Federal Aviation Administration in 2011, where she was a senior technical advisor and director of field operations for the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
Charles Frank Bolden Jr. is a former Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General, and a former astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions.
Daniel Saul Goldin served as the 9th and longest-tenured Administrator of NASA from April 1, 1992, to November 17, 2001. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush and also served under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He is an entrepreneur and technologist. Most recently he is the founder of Cold Canyon AI, an innovation advisory company. His career has spanned numerous technologies and businesses in space science, aeronautics, national security, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence.
Thomas Keith Glennan was the first Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, serving from August 19, 1958 to January 20, 1961.
Robert Donald Cabana is a former Associate Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), NASA astronaut and non-flight-eligible management astronaut), and is a veteran of four Space Shuttle flights. He served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1994 to 1997 and as director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center from 2008 to 2021. He is also a former naval flight officer and naval aviator in the United States Marine Corps.
Frederick Drew Gregory is a former United States Air Force pilot, military engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut as well as former NASA Deputy Administrator. He also served briefly as NASA Acting Administrator in early 2005, covering the period between the departure of Sean O'Keefe and the swearing in of Michael D. Griffin.
George Michael Low was an administrator at NASA and the 14th president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Low was one of the senior NASA officials who made decisions as manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office in the Apollo program of crewed missions to the Moon.
Bryan Daniel O'Connor is a retired United States Marine Corps Colonel and former NASA astronaut. He was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2008.
Daniel R. Mulville is an American engineer who served briefly as Acting Administrator of NASA in 2001.
William H. Gerstenmaier is an aerospace engineer and policymaker who is Vice President, Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX. He previously served as NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations between 2005 and July 10, 2019. While in that role, he was described as "arguably the most influential person when it comes to US spaceflight." Prior to being Associate Administrator, Gerstenmaier served as the International Space Station Office Program Manager, at Johnson Space Center, a position he began in June 2002. He spent a total of four decades with NASA.
Alan Mathieson Lovelace was the Deputy Administrator of NASA from July 2, 1976, to July 10, 1981. He filled in as acting Administrator twice: once during the Jimmy Carter administration to fill the May 2 to June 20, 1977, vacancy left by the retirement of James C. Fletcher, and again during the start of Ronald Reagan's administration from January 21 to July 10, 1981, until Reagan's choice James M. Beggs was confirmed by Congress.
Dale Dehaven Myers was an American aerospace engineer who was Deputy Administrator of NASA, serving between October 6, 1986, and May 13, 1989. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1943.
The National Space Council is a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States created in 1989 during the George H. W. Bush administration, disbanded in 1993, and reestablished in June 2017 by the Donald Trump administration. It is a modified version of the earlier National Aeronautics and Space Council (1958–1973).
Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. is former Acting Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), serving from January 20, 2017 until April 23, 2018. Succeeding Charles Bolden, Lightfoot became the space agency's acting Associate Administrator on March 5, 2012. That job became permanent on September 25, 2012. He had previously served as the eleventh Director of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, from March 2009 until his promotion in March 2012. On March 12, 2018 he announced his retirement from NASA effective April 30, 2018.
The space policy of the United States includes both the making of space policy through the legislative process, and the implementation of that policy in the United States' civilian and military space programs through regulatory agencies. The early history of United States space policy is linked to the US–Soviet Space Race of the 1960s, which gave way to the Space Shuttle program. At the moment, the US space policy is aimed at the exploration of the Moon and the subsequent colonization of Mars.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other related organizations, as the result of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s.
Ellen Renee Stofan is Under Secretary for Science and Research at The Smithsonian and was previously the Director of the National Air and Space Museum.
Adena Williams Loston is the 14th president of St. Philip’s College. She was installed as the new president in ceremonies on March 1, 2007.
Stephen G. Jurczyk was an American engineer who served as the Acting Administrator of NASA. He previously worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
The Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the second-highest-ranking official of NASA, the national space agency of the United States. Administrator of NASA is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible for providing clarity to the agency's vision and serving as a source of internal leadership within NASA. The office holder also has an important place within United States space policy.