Top NASA picks on a glide path toward their jobs

Charles Bolden, a former fighter pilot, astronaut and retired Marine Corps major general, received assurances of confirmation to be NASA administrator Wednesday, but was challenged by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to explain how he would restore the past excitement and prestige of an organization he said was "adrift."

Rockefeller gave a similar assurance and challenge to Lori Garver, the nominee for deputy NASA administrator after 20 years of experience in civil space at NASA and in the private sector.

But Rockefeller voiced a concern that the space agency is no longer inspiring young Americans or attracting the talented people it needs to accomplish its mission. "NASA is not what it was," Rockefeller said, and he asked the two nominees what they would do to restore NASA's former status as "the inspiration of the nation."

Bolden said NASA needs to build on its investments in the International Space Station, while it "flies out" the shuttle missions and accelerates work on the next generation of manned space systems.

Bolden, who flew four shuttle missions including two as mission commander, said while safety and efficiency have to be foremost in NASA's policies, he wants the agency to also become a national leader in research and development. He emphasized NASA's contributions to aeronautics and promised to inspire young people to join the agency. Commerce Committee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, noted that she and Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who flew as a mission specialist on one of Bolden's shuttle flights, had urged President Obama to nominate Bolden. "I know he is the right person to lead the agency," she said.

Nelson said Bolden and Garver "come as a team" and praised both of them. In response to Rockefeller's concerns about NASA, Nelson stressed Bolden's history of overcoming obstacles, including racial bias against an African American in his native South Carolina and the Marine Corps' initial opposition to promoting an astronaut to the rank of general.