Then Senator Bill Nelson speaks in West Palm Beach, Florida in this file picture taken on November 3, 2018. — Reuters picWASHINGTON, March 19 — The White House announced today that President Joe Biden was tapping Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator for Florida who once flew on a Space Shuttle and helped craft key space legislation as his Nasa chief.
Bridenstine’s own nomination was initially met with deep skepticism as a result of his controversial political positions when he was a Republican member of the House of Representatives, including opposing the scientific consensus on climate change. A statement from the White House emphasized Nelson’s four decades in public office, first in the Florida state legislature and US Congress, then as state treasurer.
He chaired or was ranking member of space committees in both the House and Senate over his long political career.