Space.com: Bridenstine Tops NASA Admin Shortlist
NASA Administrator Bridenstine? His Name’s in the Mix for Trump’s Space Team
By Jeff Foust, SpaceNews Writer
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), a member of Congress active on a wide range of space issues, is being considered for key posts in the Trump administration, including NASA administrator.
Sources familiar with the transition planning for the Trump administration say that Bridenstine is being considered for both the NASA administrator post as well as Secretary of the Air Force. Bridenstine, in addition to being a member of Congress, serves in the Oklahoma Air National Guard after previously being a pilot in the U.S. Navy.
Bridenstine has been active on space issues since first being elected to the House of Representatives in 2012, serving on the House Science Committee and House Armed Services Committee. Those posts have given him a voice on both civil and national security space policy issues.
He is best known for the introduction in April of the American Space Renaissance Act, a comprehensive space policy bill that covered topics in national security, civil and commercial space. The bill was designed to provide what he called a “holistic” approach to space policy, rather that treating those topics separately.