Bill Nelson Steps Down As NASA Chief After 53 Years Of Public Service

Bill Nelson has resigned as NASA administrator, marking the end of a half-century in public service, Mike Wall reported for Space.com.

A member of the Democratic Party, Nelson began his public service career in 1972 as a member of the Florida House of Representatives. I Photo: Robert Markowitz, NASA Johnson Flickr

Nelson, along with Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, left the agency. Janet Petro, the director of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, has been named NASA's interim chief by Trump.

"As I leave public office today after 53 years, thank you for the great privilege of a lifetime of serving the people of our country. I am humbled and grateful," Nelson wrote in a farewell post on X.

A member of the Democratic Party, Nelson began his public service career in 1972 as a member of the Florida House of Representatives. He later served in the U.S. House and Senate, representing Florida’s Space Coast, home to KSC and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

In January 1986, Nelson flew aboard the space shuttle Columbia’s STS-61-C mission, becoming the first sitting member of Congress to travel to space. That mission preceded the ill-fated Challenger launch on January 28, 1986, which ended in tragedy.