Administrator of NASA

Head of the US independent space agency

Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Seal
Constituent part of the administrator's standard

Incumbent
Bill Nelson

since May 3, 2021

Reports to| President
Seat| Washington, D.C.
Nominator| President with Senate advice and consent
Term length| At the pleasure of the President
Constituting instrument| 51 U.S.C. § 20111
Inaugural holder| Thomas Keith Glennan
Salary| $221,900 annually
(Executive Schedule II)
Website| Bill Nelson, NASA

The administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the highest-ranking official of NASA, the national space agency of the United States. The administrator is NASA's chief decision maker, responsible for providing clarity to the agency's vision and serving as a source of internal leadership within NASA. The office holder also has an important place within United States space policy,[1] and is assisted by a deputy administrator.

The administrator is appointed by the president of the United States, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, and thereafter serves at the president's pleasure. Former senator and astronaut Bill Nelson has served as the administrator since May 3, 2021. Entrepreneur and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman has been the nominee for NASA administrator since December 4, 2024.

## Duties and responsibilities

[edit]

The administrator serves as NASA's chief executive officer, accountable to the President for the leadership necessary to achieve the agency's mission. This leadership requires articulating the agency's vision, setting its programmatic and budget priorities and internal policies, and assessing Agency performance.[2]

## History

[edit]

The first administrator of NASA was Dr. T. Keith Glennan; during his term he brought together the disparate projects in space development research in the US.[3] Daniel Goldin held the post for the longest term (nearly 10 years), and is best known for pioneering the "faster, better, cheaper" approach to space programs.[4] The only person to hold the post twice is James C. Fletcher, who returned to NASA following the Challenger disaster.[5]

The current administrator is former senator and astronaut Bill Nelson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden on March 19, 2021,[6] confirmed by the Senate on April 29, and officially sworn in on May 3.[7] The current nominee for administrator is entrepreneur and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman, who was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump on December 4, 2024.[8]

## List of administrators

[edit]

Status

Denotes an acting administrator of NASA

Denotes a presumptive nominee

No.  | Portrait  | Name  | Took office  | Left office  | Days served  | President
serving under

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  |  | T. Keith Glennan | August 19, 1958  | January 20, 1961  | 885  |  | Dwight D. Eisenhower
\-  |  | Hugh Dryden | January 11, 1961  | February 14, 1961  | 24  |  | John F. Kennedy
2  |  | James E. Webb | February 14, 1961  | October 7, 1968  | 1,035
1,781
(2,816 total) |  | Lyndon B. Johnson
3  |  | Thomas O. Paine | October 8, 1968  | March 21, 1969  | 104
60  |  | Richard Nixon
March 21, 1969  | September 15, 1970  | 543
(707 total)
\-  |  | George Low | September 16, 1970  | April 26, 1971  | 222
4  |  | James C. Fletcher | April 27, 1971  | May 1, 1977  | 1,200
895  |  | Gerald Ford
101
(3258 total) |  | Jimmy Carter
\-  |  | Alan M. Lovelace | May 2, 1977  | June 20, 1977  | 49
5  |  | Robert A. Frosch | June 21, 1977  | January 20, 1981  | 1,309
\-  |  | Alan M. Lovelace | January 21, 1981  | July 10, 1981  | 171
(220 total) |  | Ronald Reagan
6  |  | James M. Beggs | July 10, 1981  | December 4, 1985  | 1,608
\-  |  | William Graham | December 4, 1985  | May 11, 1986  | 158
7  |  | James C. Fletcher | May 12, 1986  | April 8, 1989  | 984

(3258 total) |  | George H. W. Bush
\-  |  | Dale D. Myers | April 8, 1989  | May 13, 1989  | 35
8  |  | Richard H. Truly | May 14, 1989  | June 30, 1989  | 47
July 1, 1989  | March 31, 1992  | 1,004
(1,052 total)
9  |  | Daniel Goldin | April 1, 1992  | November 17, 2001  | 294
2,922  |  | Bill Clinton
301
(3,517 total) |  | George W. Bush
\-  |  | Daniel Mulville | November 19, 2001  | December 21, 2001  | 32
10  |  | Sean O'Keefe | December 21, 2001  | February 11, 2005  | 1,148
\-  |  | Frederick D. Gregory | February 11, 2005  | April 14, 2005  | 62
11  |  | Michael D. Griffin | April 14, 2005  | January 20, 2009  | 1,377
\-  |  | Christopher Scolese | January 20, 2009  | July 17, 2009  | 178  |  | Barack Obama
12  |  | Charles Bolden | July 17, 2009  | January 20, 2017  | 2,744
\-  |  | Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. | January 20, 2017  | April 23, 2018  | 458  |  | Donald Trump
13  |  | Jim Bridenstine | April 23, 2018  | January 20, 2021  | 1,003
\-  |  | Steve Jurczyk | January 20, 2021  | May 3, 2021  | 103  |  | Joe Biden
14  |  | Bill Nelson | May 3, 2021  | Incumbent  | 1,314
\-  |  | Jared Isaacman | \-  | Nominee[8] | \-  |  | Donald Trump

## Line of succession

[edit]

The line of succession for the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is as follows:[9]

1. Deputy administrator of NASA
2. Associate administrator of NASA
3. Chief of staff of NASA
4. Director of Johnson Space Center (Houston, Texas)
5. Director of Kennedy Space Center (Merritt Island, Florida)
6. Director of Marshall Space Flight Center (Redstone Arsenal, Alabama)

In the event of there being no deputy administrator of NASA, the associate administrator will serve as acting administrator.

## See also

[edit]

* Chairmen of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
* NASA Chief Scientist

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "NASA Strategic Management Handbook". Archived from the original on May 10, 2021. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
2. ^ "Chapter 2-Roles and Responsibilities". Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2021.
3. ^ "T. Keith Glennan biography". NASA. August 4, 2006. Archived from the original on July 8, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
4. ^ "Daniel S. Goldin biography". NASA. March 12, 2004. Archived from the original on June 15, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
5. ^ "James C. Fletcher biography". NASA. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved July 5, 2008.
6. ^ "President Biden Announces his Intent to Nominate Bill Nelson for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration". The White House. March 19, 2021. Archived from the original on March 19, 2021. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
7. ^ "List of Administrators and Deputy Administrators of NASA". NASA. Archived from the original on May 21, 2008. Retrieved July 4, 2008.
8. ^ a b "Trump Picks Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator". Bloomberg.com. December 4, 2024. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
9. ^ "Designation of Officers of the National Aeronautics And Space Administration To Act as Administrator". Federal Register. January 22, 2009. Archived from the original on October 30, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.

* v
* t
* e

Administrators and deputy administrators of NASA

Administrators|

* T. Keith Glennan
* James E. Webb
* Thomas O. Paine
* James C. Fletcher
* Robert A. Frosch
* James M. Beggs
* James C. Fletcher
* Richard H. Truly
* Daniel Goldin
* Sean O'Keefe
* Michael D. Griffin
* Charles Bolden
* Jim Bridenstine
* Bill Nelson

Acting administrators|

* Hugh Dryden
* Thomas Paine
* George Low
* Alan M. Lovelace
* William Robert Graham
* Dale D. Myers
* Richard Truly
* Daniel Mulville
* Frederick D. Gregory
* Christopher Scolese
* Robert M. Lightfoot Jr.
* Steve Jurczyk

Deputy administrators|

* Hugh Dryden
* Robert Seamans
* Thomas Paine
* George Low
* Alan Lovelace
* Hans Mark
* William Graham
* Dale Myers
* James R. Thompson Jr.
* Frederick Gregory
* Shana Dale
* Lori Garver
* Dava Newman
* James Morhard
* Pamela Melroy

Acting deputy administrators|

* Aaron Cohen
* John R. Dailey
* Daniel Mulville
* Lesa Roe

* v
* t
* e

NASA

Policy and history|

| History
(creation)|

* NACA (1915)
* National Aeronautics and Space Act (1958)
* Space Task Group (1958)
* Paine (1986)
* Rogers (1986)
* Ride (1987)
* Space Exploration Initiative (1989)
* Augustine (1990)
* U.S. National Space Policy (1996)
* CFUSAI (2002)
* CAIB (2003)
* Vision for Space Exploration (2004)
* Aldridge (2004)
* Augustine (2009)

|

General|

* Space Race
* Administrator and Deputy Administrator
* Chief Scientist
* Astronaut Corps
* Ranks and positions
* Chief
* Budget
* NASA research
* spinoff technologies
* NASA+
* NASA TV
* NASA Social
* Launch Services Program
* Mercury Control Center
* Manned Space Flight Network
* Kennedy Space Center
* Vehicle Assembly Building
* Launch Complex 39
* Launch Complex 48
* Launch Control Center
* Operations and Checkout Building
* Johnson Space Center
* Mission Control
* Lunar Sample Laboratory
* Science Mission Directorate

Human spaceflight
programs|

| Past|

* X-15 (suborbital)
* Mercury
* Gemini
* Apollo
* Skylab
* Apollo–Soyuz (with the Soviet space program)
* Space Shuttle
* Shuttle–Mir (with Roscosmos State Corporation)
* Constellation

|

Current|

* International Space Station
* Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
* Commercial Crew
* Orion
* Artemis
* Lunar Gateway

Robotic programs|

| Past|

* Hitchhiker
* Mariner
* Mariner Mark II
* MESUR
* Mars Surveyor '98
* New Millennium
* Lunar Orbiter
* Pioneer
* Planetary Observer
* Ranger
* Surveyor
* Viking
* Project Prometheus
* Mars Exploration
* Mars Exploration Rover

|

Current|

* Living With a Star
* Lunar Precursor Robotic Program
* Earth Observing System
* Great Observatories program
* Explorers
* Voyager
* Discovery
* New Frontiers
* Solar Terrestrial Probes
* Commercial Lunar Payload Services
* SIMPLEx

Individual featured
missions
(human and robotic)|

| Past|

* Apollo 11
* COBE
* Mercury 3
* Mercury-Atlas 6
* Magellan
* Pioneer 10
* Pioneer 11
* Galileo
* timeline
* GALEX
* GRAIL
* WMAP
* Space Shuttle
* Spitzer Space Telescope
* Sojourner rover
* Spirit rover
* LADEE
* MESSENGER
* Aquarius
* Cassini
* Dawn
* Kepler space telescope
* Opportunity rover
* timeline
* observed
* RHESSI
* InSight
* Ingenuity helicopter
* flights

|

Currently
operating|

* Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
* 2001 Mars Odyssey
* New Horizons
* International Space Station
* Hubble Space Telescope
* Swift
* THEMIS
* Mars Exploration Rover
* Curiosity rover
* timeline
* GOES 14
* Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
* GOES 15
* Van Allen Probes
* Solar Dynamics Observatory
* Juno
* Mars Science Laboratory
* timeline
* NuSTAR
* Voyager 1
* Voyager 2
* WISE
* MAVEN
* MMS
* OSIRIS-REx
* Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite
* Mars 2020
* Perseverance rover
* timeline
* James Webb Space Telescope
* timeline
* PACE
* Europa Clipper

Future|

* NISAR
* Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
* DAVINCI
* VERITAS

Communications
and navigation|

* Near Earth Network
* Space Network
* Deep Space Network (Goldstone
* Madrid
* Canberra
* Space Flight Operations Facility)
* Deep Space Atomic Clock

NASA lists|

* Astronauts
* by name
* by year
* Gemini astronauts
* Apollo astronauts
* Space Shuttle crews
* NASA aircraft
* NASA missions
* uncrewed missions
* Apollo missions
* Space Shuttle missions
* United States rockets
* NASA cancellations
* NASA cameras on spacecraft

NASA images
and artwork|

* Earthrise
* The Blue Marble
* Family Portrait
* Pale Blue Dot
* Pillars of Creation
* Mystic Mountain
* Solar System Family Portrait
* The Day the Earth Smiled
* Fallen Astronaut
* Deep fields
* Lunar plaques
* Pioneer plaques
* Voyager Golden Record
* Apollo 11 goodwill messages
* NASA insignia
* Gemini and Apollo medallions
* Mission patches
* Hubble Space Telescope anniversary images

Related|

* "We choose to go to the Moon"
* Apollo 8 Genesis reading
* Apollo 15 postal covers incident
* Space Mirror Memorial
* The Astronaut Monument
* Lunar sample displays
* Moon rocks
* stolen or missing
* U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
* Space program on U.S. stamps
* Apollo 17 Moon mice
* Moon tree
* Other primates in space
* NASA International Space Apps Challenge
* Astronauts Day
* National Astronaut Day
* Nikon NASA F4

* Category
* Commons

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