Former shuttle commander picked to lead NASA

ByABC News
May 23, 2009, 1:36 PM

WASHINGTON -- President Obama has nominated Charles Bolden, a former shuttle commander and Vietnam veteran, to become NASA's first African-American administrator at a time when the space agency is facing major challenges.

Obama on Saturday also announced that he was nominating Lori Garver to be NASA's deputy administrator. Garver was Obama's NASA transition chief and is a former associate administrator at the agency.

The president says the nominees will help put NASA on course to "boldly push" the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century.

If the Senate confirms Bolden, he would be the second astronaut to take the space agency's helm.

Now the chief executive of JackandPanther LLC, a military and aerospace consulting firm, Bolden, 62, grew up in South Carolina during segregation.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the University of Southern California, he flew more than 100 sorties over Vietnam as a Marine Corps aviator in 1972-73.

He became an astronaut in 1980 and flew in space four times twice as shuttle commander. He later served as assistant deputy administrator at NASA headquarters in Washington. Bolden left NASA in 1994 and retired from the Marine Corps in 2003 as the commanding general of the Third Marine Aircraft wing.

Already he's got a major advantage in the confirmation process: Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a key member of the committee that will review Bolden's nomination, is a former crewmate. The two flew a shuttle mission together in 1986.

In a statement, Nelson described Bolden as an ideal chief for a space agency in transition.

"Charlie is a patriot, a leader and a visionary who understands the workings of NASA and the importance of America remaining a leader in science and technology through space exploration," Nelson said.

Others share that assessment. Bolden has "broad interests, a quick mind and. .. is a great team-builder, Joseph Dyer, who has worked with Bolden on NASA's independent safety panel.