Jay Bennett reports that Congressman and Naval Aviator Jim Bridenstine has been selected as the new NASA Administrator, and Aerojet Rocketdyne Vice President John Schumacher has been identified as Deputy Administrator. Ars Technica then confirmed the selections with multiple sources. However, one source familiar with the situation warned that nothing is certain until a formal nomination is announced by NASA, which is expected to occur sometime in September.
Bridenstine, the third-term Republican Representative is a passionate advocate of increased U.S. operations in space, including a return to the moon to construct a permanent base. He has been rumored as a likely candidate for NASA's top job within the new administration, and he sponsored a bill last year known as the American Space Renaissance Act, which outlines many new space policies.
The Congressman supports fostering private industry in space and shifting some space operations away from NASA and the Defense Department to the private sector. "Our civil and defense space enterprises must not compete with the private sector, but enable domestic, commercial launch and space capabilities," Bridenstine wrote on his space policy website.
Bridenstine also supports a return to the moon to harvest resources. He called a U.S. return to the lunar surface to build a permanent outpost "our Sputnik moment."
From the discovery of water ice on the moon until this day, the American objective should have been a permanent outpost of rovers and machines at the poles with occasional manned missions for science and maintenance. The purpose of such an outpost should have been to utilize the materials and energy of the moon to drive down the costs and increase the capabilities of cis-lunar space.
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