Translated material
The head of NASA left his post
On January 20, the head of NASA Jim Brydenstayn left his post in connection with the official entry into the post of new US President Joe Biden. This resignation is part of the usual process of changing the US administration, and the new NASA head will be approved by the US Senate, the majority in which the Democratic Party now has.
The Republican Braidenstain headed NASA in April 2018, and before that he was a member of the House of Representatives of Congress from Oklahoma. During his work, the space agency was able to achieve a number of successes, and the Artemis project was the key project for NASA in recent years, the purpose of which is the return of people to the Moon by 2024 (due to a number of delays, this period looks less and less realistic) and the large-scale development of the Earth's satellite in cooperation with other countries.
As notes The Verge , recently Braydenstein has made efforts in order to protect the Artemis project from possible cancellation. In particular, he met with an influential Senator from the Democrats Patrick Lih. According to the results of the meeting, Braidenstain said that he was able to reach a consensus allowing to preserve a new lunar project. At the same time, the Congress had allocated NASA for the implementation of the project in 2021 $ 850 million instead of the requested 3.3 billion, but Braidenstein considered this a success, noting that even during the Pandemia, the NASA budget was noticeably more than it was when Braydenstein took his post.
On Wednesday, Briedenstayn published an emotional farewell message on his microblog. In a small video, he wished success to the new leadership of NASA and called on employees to support the future team.
IT HAS Been My Great Honor to Serve Asa @nasa Administrator. I Will Miss The Amazing Nasa Family and Will Forever Be Grateful for My Time at this Incredible Agency. Ad Astra. pic.twitter.com/zba4mtawpv
- Jim bridenstine (@jimbridenstine) January 20, 2021
The head of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin thanked Bryadenstein for working together in the space sphere in the context of existing contradictions in relations between Russia and the USA.
So far, the duties of the head of NASA will be performed by Steve Yurchik, Deputy Bryadenstaine. The new NASA leader will most likely be a woman, and this will happen for the first time in the history of NASA. Now the NASA transition team is headed by a former chief researcher at the agency and director of the National Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics Ellen Stophan.