Leaders of NASA sit in an ungainly place. Whereas they’re the pinnacle of a well known group, they’re usually not probably the most well-known particular person within the company. Extra folks most likely know the names of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the astronauts at the moment “stranded” on the International Space Station, than Invoice Nelson, the present NASA administrator.
Astronauts could be the folks most intently related to NASA, however directors are arguably extra integral to getting applications off the bottom.
As a space policy expert, I’ve seen the influence that particular person NASA leaders can have on NASA’s success. They play an important function in deciding what NASA does and the way it does it, they usually additionally assist construct political assist for house exploration.
The function of the NASA administrator
NASA is an independent government bureaucracy, which means that it doesn’t fall underneath one of many cupboard departments – just like the Division of State. As such, the chief of NASA is an administrator moderately than a secretary.
Though the identify differs, a NASA administrator has comparable duties and obligations as a cupboard secretary. They assist make choices about which main applications and insurance policies must be pursued and the way they’re carried out. NASA directors work with companions in business, together with the business house business. Additionally they characterize NASA whereas presenting to Congress and through diplomatic relations with different international locations.
NASA directors are additionally accountable to elected officers. Directors are appointed by the president however should be confirmed by the Senate. Congress has a great deal to say concerning the funds that NASA will get every year. Additionally they should authorize main applications, like the Artemis program, which goals to return the U.S. and its companions to the Moon.
Though main choices like these are sometimes out of their arms, NASA directors nonetheless have quite a lot of affect behind the scenes. James Webb, NASA’s second administrator, who held the workplace between 1961 and 1968, is usually credited as being integral in sustaining political assist for the Apollo program.
Dan Goldin, the longest-serving NASA administrator, helped save the Worldwide Area Station from cancellation within the early Nineties by convincing the Clinton administration to ask Russia’s participation.
As administrator within the early 2000s, Mike Griffin helped jump-start the business house business by instituting the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. This program supplied funding to firms who would first ship cargo to the Worldwide Area Station, after which later, astronauts.
Nonetheless, not all directors are as productive as Webb, Goldin or Griffin. Richard Truly was fired from the post by George H.W. Bush in 1992 after disagreeing with the administration’s 1989 proposal to return the U.S. to the Moon.
Charles Bolden discovered controversy when he instructed Al-Jazeera that President Barack Obama instructed him to make outreach to Muslim international locations one in every of NASA’s priorities.
Each Really and Bolden have been astronauts earlier than changing into administrator. However that doesn’t imply that former astronauts are in some way worse within the place than folks coming from different backgrounds. NASA directors have traditionally had all kinds of backgrounds, together with scientists, engineers and even former members of Congress.
The present NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, is each a former senator and a former astronaut, having gone to house on the shuttle Columbia in January 1986.
Main questions forward
Regardless of the administrator, the approaching years will convey huge choices for whoever is subsequent.
With the recent announcement that the around-the-moon mission of Artemis II is delayed till spring of 2026, NASA nonetheless has a lot work to do in its Artemis program. Major issues remain to be addressed with the crew car, together with issues with the capsule’s warmth defend and digital techniques.
Additional, the success of business house firms like SpaceX means there might be more pressure on NASA to search out methods to scale back prices by leveraging the companies of business firms.
Extra broadly, many different international locations want to how the U.S. is working in house. Apart from what some see as a new space race with China, questions on space debris, space traffic management and space resources will contain cooperation with different international locations and would require administrator involvement.
Lastly, the NASA administrator must deal with a recurring subject: fewer resources. Traditionally, NASA has been appropriated less money than vital to hold out all of the issues it has been charged to do.
This example results in arduous choices about what sorts of missions to assist. Area science and robotic exploration typically lose out to issues like human spaceflight.
Though the following administrator might want to make arduous choices, the following few years might be full of pleasure because the U.S. and others pursue more and more bold objectives.
Wendy Whitman Cobb is a professor of technique and safety research at Air University.
This text is republished from The Conversation underneath a Inventive Commons license. Learn the original article.