Bill Nelson, former U.S. Senator from Florida, took the oath of office Monday as the new administrator of NASA, celebrating a new beginning for space exploration with the United States' aim to return to the moon. Nelson took the oath with his hand on the Bible in front of Vice President Kamala Harris as he officially assumed the position of NASA administrator. After attending the ceremony holding a piece of lunar rock, he stated, "It's a new day in space."
The 78-year-old Nelson, who traveled to space in 1986, will oversee the agency as the U.S. hopes to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024. The lunar rock he brought with him was part of the Apollo 16 mission. The last time a human set foot on the moon was in 1972 through the Apollo space program. Under the Artemis program, NASA aims to establish a sustainable presence on the moon with a lunar space station to test new technologies that will pave the way for a manned mission to Mars.
In 2019, former Vice President Mike Pence urged NASA to send the first woman and the second man to the moon by 2024, a timeline that President Joe Biden's administration has supported. The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Charlie Bolden, NASA administrator during former President Barack Obama's term, while former administrator Jim Bridenstine from the Trump administration participated via video call. Nelson remarked that their presence is "to show continuity and the bipartisan partnership in managing the nation's space program, especially NASA."
