NASA names acting administrator
NASA yesterday named Robert Lightfoot as the Acting NASA administrator, taking over from Charles Bolden when he leaves on January 20, 2017 at the start of the Trump administration.
Lightfoot is a former Director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, having begun his NASA career there in 1989. He transferred to NASA Headquarters in 2012 to serve as Associate Administrator, the highest ranking civil service position in the agency. It is traditional for the highest ranking NASA civil servant to take over as acting administrator during changes in presidential administrations. The Trump transition has not always followed traditional paths so today’s announcement provided some degree of reassurance. Bolden said the Trump transition team officially told NASA yesterday that Lightfoot will serve in that job. A mechanical engineer, he has served in many capacities at Marshall, Stennis Space Center and Headquarters, including assistant associate administrator for the space shuttle program (2003-2005) at headquarters and manager of the space shuttle propulsion office at MSFC (2005-2007). He was named MSFC Deputy Director in 2007 and Director in 2009.
Essentially Lightfoot will act as a placeholder until the new administration names its pick for the position.
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NASA yesterday named Robert Lightfoot as the Acting NASA administrator, taking over from Charles Bolden when he leaves on January 20, 2017 at the start of the Trump administration.
Lightfoot is a former Director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, having begun his NASA career there in 1989. He transferred to NASA Headquarters in 2012 to serve as Associate Administrator, the highest ranking civil service position in the agency. It is traditional for the highest ranking NASA civil servant to take over as acting administrator during changes in presidential administrations. The Trump transition has not always followed traditional paths so today’s announcement provided some degree of reassurance. Bolden said the Trump transition team officially told NASA yesterday that Lightfoot will serve in that job. A mechanical engineer, he has served in many capacities at Marshall, Stennis Space Center and Headquarters, including assistant associate administrator for the space shuttle program (2003-2005) at headquarters and manager of the space shuttle propulsion office at MSFC (2005-2007). He was named MSFC Deputy Director in 2007 and Director in 2009.
Essentially Lightfoot will act as a placeholder until the new administration names its pick for the position.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
If they need a placeholder, why not Gordon Lightfoot?
can’t resist…
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
https://youtu.be/hgI8bta-7aw
–some good archival footage–
Could the explanation for this non-move is that the transition team is uninterested, or divided? Sounds like this step-in would happen if the administrator would resign for any reason any time. Not like a deliberate decision made by the new White House. Maybe he’ll stay there for 8 years.
I hope the Obama administration’s Muslim outreach program will end.
LocalFluff: This appointment of an acting administrator is a normal transition procedure. The political appointee resigns, and in the time period before a new one is chosen the second in command takes over temporarily. There is nothing strange here. And there is zero chance the Trump administration will not appoint someone.
Frank–
Right with you on that thought.
Speculations here and there on twitter and forums say that Jim Bridenstine has publically positioned himself for the post as NASA administrator rather than competing for heading the Air Force.
He seems to be a Moon-man, which could give the clear priority that NASA now desperately needs. But he has spoken about producing fuel on the Moon to supply space crafts orbiting earth. That doesn’t add up. I hope he finds his pocket calculator and doesn’t get fooled by even crazier ideas. Another ARM kind of fantasy mission would be the termination of NASA.
LocalFluff wrote: “producing fuel on the Moon to supply space crafts orbiting earth. That doesn’t add up.”
Actually, it does add up.
There are a large number of ideas for refueling satellites on orbit, and there are at least two companies working on doing it. The Russians have a method for refueling space stations, which they used on MIR and occasionally use on the ISS. Extending the lives of certain satellites makes a great deal of sense. There was one satellite operator, decades ago, who compared the lifetime of a satellite to throwing away a car once the ashtray filled up.
ULA understands that getting material off the moon and into Earth orbit is easier (less fuel and expense) than sending it up from the Earth. I have linked to this CisLunar-1000 video before, but it describes this concept and other concepts, as well as their expectation of an increase in humans in space over the course of the next three decades:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxftPmpt7aA (7 minutes)
For those who think we should develop the Moon before developing Mars, it looks like there are plenty of companies and people who have their eyes on the Moon. Since it is closer, easier, and faster to reach, I think we can be confident that more will be done on the Moon sooner than things get done on Mars.
The next NASA administrator is likely to oversee a very exciting time for Earth’s space programs. With luck and good leadership, he and NASA will once again become leaders, partners, resources, and inspirations for these efforts.