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- NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has revealed that he will be leaving his post now that it looks like Joe Biden will be the president.
- Bridenstine was nominated by Trump early in his presidency, and the NASA chief has been trying to raise funds for a return to the moon by 2024.
- Biden will need to choose a new NASA administrator once he is sworn in as president in January.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine was appointed by Donald Trump shortly after his inauguration and now that it appears Joe Biden will be the next US president, Bridenstine has revealed he will be leaving his position with the US space agency.
Not long after Bridenstine was appointed to the post, the Trump administration issued a mandate for the space agency to find a way to speed up its mission plans to the moon and send humans back to the lunar surface by 2024. Meanwhile, NASA and Bridenstine have done everything in their power to make it a reality, although securing funding for the accelerated timing has been an uphill battle. Now, apparently, Bridenstine won’t have to worry about it anymore.
Talking with Aviation Week, Bridenstine said he’s probably headed for the door now that Joe Biden is president-elect. The decision is not, Bridenstine says, of a political nature, but rather to ensure that the relationship between the NASA administrator and the president is as close as possible.
“The right question here is ‘What is NASA’s best interest as an agency and what is the best interest of the American exploration program?’ Bridenstine told the outlet in an interview on November 8. “For this, what you need is someone who has a close relationship with the president of the United States. You need someone the administration trusts. …. 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 person for that in a new administration. “
Bridenstine attributes many of NASA’s successes over the past four years to its close relationship with the current presidential administration. This, he says, is critical if the space agency is to continue its success in both the short and long term.
It is certainly not unusual for individuals appointed by a specific president to prepare their resignation letters when that president leaves office. This is really no different, although it might complicate matters slightly as NASA is in the midst of so many different new programs, and Bridenstine was, presumably, crucial in making these things happen.
In any case, Bridenstine says that even if the Biden administration asked him to stay, he would still leave. That effectively rules out any possibility of him being the NASA administrator in the future, and the Biden administration will have another role to fill once it gains the power to do so in January.
Mike Wehner has been reporting on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones, and the technology of the future. Most recently, Mike worked as a Tech Editor at The Daily Dot and appeared on USA Today, Time.com, and countless other websites and print media. His love of reportage is second only to his addiction to games.
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