Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – US President Joe Biden has appointed former US senator and astronaut Bill Nelson to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the White House said in a statement Friday.
Nelson has been with NASA for a very long time. He flew on the shuttle Columbia in 1986 and is currently on NASA’s Advisory Board.
Nelson, who is serving three terms in the Senate, will take control of NASA as it seeks to return humans to the moon for the first time since the 1970s and expand his reliance on the commercial space industry.
Biden has agreed to continue the program, known as Artemis, which began under former President Donald Trump and aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2024, which is meant to be the start of an even more ambitious human landing on Mars in the future.
Later, Nelson will replace Jim Bridenstine, who was appointed by Trump, as the previous administrator of NASA.
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Photo: Photo taken on February 20, 2021 by the Mars Perseverance rover, showing the surface of Mars. It landed on Thursday, February 18 (NASA / JPL-Caltech via AP) This composite image made available by NASA, produced from photos captured Feb. 20, 2021 by the Perseverance Mars rover, shows the surface of Mars. It landed on Thursday, Feb. 18. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)- – |
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