{"id":18557,"date":"2018-04-19T19:55:35","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T11:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/senate-confirms-jim-bridenstine-as-nasas-administrator-after-months-of-uncertainty\/"},"modified":"2018-04-19T19:55:35","modified_gmt":"2018-04-19T11:55:35","slug":"senate-confirms-jim-bridenstine-as-nasas-administrator-after-months-of-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/senate-confirms-jim-bridenstine-as-nasas-administrator-after-months-of-uncertainty\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate confirms Jim Bridenstine as NASA\u2019s administrator after months of uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jim
U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., testifies at his Senate nomination hearing last November. (NASA Photo \/ Joel Kowsky)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Senate confirmed U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., as NASA\u2019s administrator today in a nail-biting vote along party lines.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Bridenstine said he was honored to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am humbled by this opportunity, and I once again thank President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for their confidence,\u201d he said. \u201cI look forward to working with the outstanding team at NASA to achieve the president\u2019s vision for American leadership in space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridenstine, 42, has represented his Tulsa-area district since 2013. During his time in Congress, he\u2019s been a strong supporter of space commercialization. He\u2019s the principal sponsor of the American Space Renaissance Act, which aims to beef up the military and commercial side of the space program.<\/p>\n

His background includes service as a naval aviator and a stint as the director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium. For a time, he also led a flying team in the short-lived Rocket Racing League.<\/p>\n

Twitter Moments<\/strong>: NASA welcomes Jim Bridenstine<\/h4>\n

The White House named Bridenstine as Trump\u2019s pick for NASA\u2019s top post last September, sparking objections from senators such as Florida\u2019s Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NASA administrator should be a consummate space professional \u2026 not a politician,\u201d Nelson, a Democrat, argued during the final hours of debate this week.<\/p>\n

Rubio, a Republican, initially voiced similar qualms, saying last September that putting Bridenstine in  what\u2019s traditionally a nonpartisan post could be \u201cdevastating to the space program.\u201d Another potential consideration might have been that Bridenstine \u2014 who leans toward the conservative Tea Party side of the GOP spectrum \u2014 criticized Rubio during the 2016 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

But when NASA\u2019s acting administrator, longtime civil servant Robert Lightfoot, announced that he\u2019d be retiring at the end of this month, Rubio said leaving the space agency without a confirmed leader would be worse.<\/p>\n

In the end, Rubio joined other Republicans in voting for Bridenstine, resulting in a 50-49 tally. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., missed the vote due to illness.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VnZZ7bQvG1U<\/p>\n

Other knocks against Bridenstine included questions about his management of the Tulsa museum, statements that he made questioning the extent of human-caused effects on global climate, and his views on LGBTQ issues.<\/p>\n

Those issues faded from the spotlight, however, after Wednesday\u2019s vote to go ahead with final consideration of Bridenstine\u2019s nomination. Most of the discussion in the last hours of Senate debate focused instead on the choice of CIA Director Mike Pompeo to become Trump\u2019s new secretary of state.<\/p>\n

Bridenstine is expected to resign from the House, get sworn in as administrator and take over at NASA well before Lightfoot\u2019s April 30 retirement.<\/p>\n

Update for 1:38 p.m. PT April 19:<\/strong> Here\u2019s a sampling of reactions to the confirmation:<\/p>\n

Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith: <\/strong>\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working with him. It\u2019s an exciting new era for NASA,\u201d Smith told GeekWire. \u201cHe came and visited our Florida facility. We\u2019ve had a couple of exchanges. Seems like he\u2019s coming up to speed quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outgoing Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot:<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m very pleased to welcome Jim Bridenstine to NASA,\u201d Lightfoot said in a statement. \u201cHe joins our great agency at a time when we are poised to accomplish historic milestones across the full spectrum of our work. Jim now takes the reins of this agency and its talented and dedicated workforce. I\u2019m looking forward to him building on our great momentum and sharing our many strengths to help us make the next giants leaps on behalf of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planetary Society executive director Bill Nye:<\/strong> \u201cCongratulations to Mr. Bridenstine on his confirmation as NASA administrator,\u201d Nye said in a statement. \u201cWe look forward to working with him to explore space, advance space science, and search for life on other worlds.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas:<\/strong> \u201cNASA is one of the most storied civilian agencies in the federal government,\u201d Smith noted in a statement. \u201cIts accomplishments are many and its missions continue to inspire millions of Americans young and old. It also has daunting challenges to overcome and new, complex missions to undertake. The Senate has rightfully approved Jim Bridenstine\u2019s nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., testifies at his Senate nomination hearing last November. (NASA Photo \/ Joel Kowsky) The Senate confirmed U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., as NASA\u2019s administrator today in a nail-biting vote along party lines. In a statement, Bridenstine said he was honored to be confirmed. \u201cI am humbled by this opportunity, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}