Nelson and NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy left NASA on Monday (January 20), the day Donald Trump began his second term as president.
President Trump has appointed Janet Petro, who most recently served as director of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, as NASA’s interim administrator.
“Today, as I retire from 53 years of public service, I am grateful for the lifelong privilege of serving the people of our country. I am humbled and grateful,” Nelson said in a post Monday in the X. ” he said.
Nelson, a Democrat, began his career in the U.S. government in 1972 when he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives.
Six years later, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Florida’s 9th District. The district is near the state’s famous Space Coast, home to both KSC and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
In January 1986, Nelson became the first sitting Congressman to reach the final frontier aboard Space Shuttle Columbia’s STS-61-C mission. The pilot of that plane was Charlie Bolden, who served as NASA administrator in the Obama administration. STS-61-C was also the mission immediately preceding Space Shuttle Challenger’s STS-51-L flight, which ended in tragedy just 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986.
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