Three days of bad weather at Florida's Kennedy Space Center changed the best-laid plans as NASA mission controllers finally sent space shuttle Atlantis and its crew homeward bound via Edwards Air Force Base in California. After working through almost 13 days in space and five back-to-back spacewalks to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson. John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino, Andrew Feustel, Michael Good and Megan McArthur have come home to a new era at NASA.
This weekend President Obama finally revealed what had become an open secret: former astronaut Charles "Charlie" Bolden has been nominated as the next NASA administrator. Four-time shuttle flier Bolden, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Major General, served as pilot of the mission that deployed Hubble in 1990.
Nominated with Bolden: Obama transition team space leader Lori Garver as deputy administrator. During the Clinton administration, she served as a NASA associate administator.
In early January, I'd predicted that Bolden would become the next NASA chief. Backed by powerful Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, who flew with Bolden aboard Columbia in 1986, Bolden also is backed by solid credentials and a wide base of support within the aerospace and military communities.
The quiet Bolden overcame what seemed insurmountable obstacle early on. Raised in then-segregated South Carolina, the African-American youngster couldn't go to a college in the deep South. Finally, a northern congressman helped Bolden win an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy.
Bolden was promptly elected president of his freshman class, and his career took off. The top gun pilot flew more than 100 missions into war-torn Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Selected for NASA's elite astronaut corps in 1981, Bolden eventually flew on four space shuttle missions, serving as pilot of STS- 61C (1986), STS-31 (1990, the Hubble release flight) and commander of STS-45 (1991) and STS-60 (1994.
He's the first African-American and the second astronaut to lead NASA. The first astronaut chief was Vice Admiral Richard Truly, USN (ret'd) , who served from 1989 to 1992.
Bolden's spent 680 hours in space, and many hours in the halls of NASA and Congress. No stranger to politics, budgets, hardware or people or management, Bolden's jobs have included:
- Astronaut Office Liaison to the Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance Directorates of the Marshall Space Flight Center and the Kennedy Space Center
- Chief of the Safety Division at JSC
- Lead Astronaut for Vehicle Test and Checkout at the Kennedy Space Center
- Assistant Deputy Administrator, NASA Headquarters
- Left NASA and returned to active duty in the Marine Corps as the Deputy Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., effective June 27, 1994
Reaction to Bolden's nomination was swift and favorable. Long known as a motivator and skilled leader, Bolden, Nelson said, is "a patriot, a leader and a visionary" and noted: "I trusted Charlie with my life — and would do so again."
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Maryland, declared: "Throughout his distinguished career in the U.S. Marine Corps and as a NASA astronaut, Mr. Bolden demonstrated that he has the right stuff. He is committed to NASA’s mission and to a balanced space program that includes safe, reliable human space exploration, science and aeronautics research."
Fellow astronauts also chimed in with praise for Bolden. Former flier Leroy Chiao posted a Twitter message: "Yea Charlie Bolden! It's good for us all. " America's first female spacewalker Kathy Sullivan, who flew twice with Bolden, said ""He has the strength of character needed to shape up NASA."
Not that piloting NASA's future will be an easy task. The White House has mandated a complete review of current NASA plans, including the new Constellation/Ares 1 next-gen rocket and plans for lunar and Mars missions. NASA also faces about $3 billion in funding cuts and a mandate to phase out the shuttle program.
Bolden's long been a supporter of manned space flight, pointing out that there are some tasks -- and in-work decisions--that can't be accomplished by robots. The just -ended STS-125 mission could serve as a poster child for that point of view.
The Atlantis crew spent seven days giving Hubble its final servicing mission. Space walkers John Grunsfeld, the most skilled Hubble technician on the planet, Drew Feustel, Mike Massimino and Michael Goods toted up a record 37 hours of spacewalking time. With each spacewalk requiring two astronauts, that's the equivalent of 74 work hours in seven days. Megan McArthur piloted the Candarm robotic arm for Hubble grapple, astronaut maneuvers, and Hubble release.
Over the next few days, Atlantis will be prepped for its ferry flight aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a specially-modified Boeing 747. The flight back to KSC will cost about $1.8 million dollars, including the costs for on-site work at Edwards.
I've flown a ferry flight back to KSC with space shuttle Columbia as it carried home a live payload, the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) plant-growing experiment that spent five years in space. A hand-picked team traveled aboard a scout aircraft that carried technicians and special servicing equipment to keep LDEF healthy enroute home. Ferry flight is an amazing enteprirse.
View a slideshow of amazing images from the Hubble Space Telescope
President Obama, flanked by a staffer, meets with Bolden prior to the official announcement of Bolden's appointment as NASA administrator.
Atlantis landing image credit/NASA TV
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