The Paper's reporter Zhang Jing
On May 3, local time, 78-year-old former U.S. Senator Bill Nelson was sworn in as nasa's 14th director.
Nelson was replaced by jim Bridenstine, the previous director who left in January. NASA said in a statement that during his tenure, Nelson will lead the U.S. space program, performing key missions, including returning to the moon through the Artemis program, expanding climate change research, promoting innovation, enhancing the U.S. economy and STEM work, among others.
Previously, the White House released news on March 24 that US President Biden officially nominated 78-year-old Bill Nelson as the new director of NASA. On April 29, the U.S. Senate approved Nelson as NASA's director.
According to Fox News, Nelson served six terms of the House of Representatives from 1979 to 1991; he was elected to the Senate in 2000 until he was defeated by former Florida Governor Rick Scott in 2018.
After leaving the Senate, under the leadership of former NASA Commissioner Jim Bridenstine, Nelson joined nasa's advisory board.
Nelson chaired the U.S. House of Representatives Space Subcommittee for six years and later served as a member of the Senate Business, Science and Transportation Committee, and was once considered a major advocate of space programs in Congress.
During his time in Congress, Nelson was a strong advocate for NASA's Earth Science Program, writing legislation to mitigate the effects of climate change. He is also an advocate for STEM vocational training and education programs.
In 2017, Nelson and Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz wrote the NASA Transitional Authorization Act of 2017, expanding NASA's commercial activities in space.
He has also been to space. In 1986, Nelson flew a space mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia as a payload expert, conducting 12 medical experiments in six days, including the first space stress test in the United States and a cancer research experiment initiated by university researchers.
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