Nominees Picked to Head NASA. (May 27, 2009)

US president Barack Obama announced this past Saturday his choices to lead NASA. He named two space flight advocates -- former astronaut Charles Bolden and Washington lobbyist Lori Garver for administrator and deputy administrator. Both will require confirmation by the US Senate.

One of the first dilemmas to be faced is the design and costing of the replacement for the aging space shuttle.  In addition the Obama administration wants additional resources for Earth observation although the overall science program is suffering from delays and overruns. The administrations budget calls for an increase for NASA next year followed by decreases in the following 2 years.

Charles Kennel, a former NASA advisory council chair and director emeritus of Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California says: "NASA is facing a crisis that many of us knew would come," and according to ScienceInsider points out that the rush to get the new launcher in operation by 2015 already has caused a slowdown in science funding.

The next act will be the tabling in less than three months of the recommendations of the review being chaired by Norman Augustine of NASA's human space flight program.