President Donald Trump intends to nominate Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Oklahoma) as administrator of NASA, the White House announced Saturday.
Robert Lightfoot, acting NASA administrator, said in a statement he is pleased with Bridenstine’s nomination and looks forward to facilitating a smooth transition.
“I look forward to working with a new leadership team, and the administration, on NASA’s ongoing mission of exploration and discovery,†Lightfoot added.
Bridenstine serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the lower chamber’s science, space and technology panel and is a member of the Oklahoma Air National Guard’s 137th special operations wing.
He spent nearly a decade in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator and experienced flying the E-2C Hawkeye aircraft aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and the F-18 Hornet fighter jet at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center.
After his military career, Bridenstine served as executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium in Oklahoma.