Butler Community College has recently partnered with NASA through the Community College Aerospace Scholars Program. Professors all across the country teach NASA courses. Dom Brown
Caelin Bragg
Lantern Staff
Republican Representative of Oklahoma Jim Bridenstine has been nominated by President Donald Trump as the new administrator for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This is following the resignation of the previous administrator in January.
Since the resignation of the previous administrator Charles F. Bolden, Associate Administrator Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. became acting administrator, leaving NASA without an official leader since President Trump took office.
“NASA is an incredible leadership and soft power tool for the United States of America,” Rep. Bridenstine said in a pre-hearing questionnaire. “With NASA’s global leadership, we will pioneer the solar system, sending humans back to the Moon, to Mars and beyond. The requires a consistent, sustainable strategy for deep space exploration.”
Rep. Bridenstine has been a critic in the past of how NASA has been structured. In 2016, he sponsored the American Space Renaissance Act, which attempted to add clarity to NASA’s mission by narrowing their focus.
“NASA is an exceptional agency that has been burdened with constantly shifting and broadening priorities from Congress and the Executive Branch,” from spacerenaissanceact.com. “Congress must provide NASA stability and accountability. NASA must not be a jack-of-all-trades, but committed to a space pioneering doctrine with a purpose to retire risk and commercialize programs.”
Rep. Bridenstine has yet to be confirmed by the Senate and has faced criticisms from lawmakers, most notably Florida senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson.
“I just think it could be devastating for the space program,” Senator Rubio told Politico. “Obviously, being from Florida, I’m very sensitive to anything that slows up NASA and its mission.”
Butler currently has a connection to NASA through the Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program, which has professors from all over the country teaching NASA students. Professor of Physics Danny Mattern, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Engineering Technology Brett Trimpe and Math Instructor Adam Anthony teach as a part of that program. The concerns regarding the nomination also spreads to some of those professors from Butler.
“Space is a pretty large area, if NASA concentrated only on a few things, how much new information would we miss?” Trimpe said in response to Rep. Bridenstine’s criticisms of NASA’s structure. “By nature, human beings are explorers, and there is a lot to explore in space. Not only that but many of the side missions NASA is working on directly affecting their goal for their Mars mission.”
This is a worry that Mattern echoes as well.
“I feel NASA’s resources have been used very wisely on the past,” Mattern said. “They have spread funding around from the human side with astronauts and the Orion program along with the International Space Station, to solar system exploration with an emphasis on Mars.”
But even with those concerns, Mattern is still hopeful for Rep. Bridenstine’s nomination.
“My hope is that NASA will continue to flourish with more funding keeping resources in human exploration as well as solar system exploration,” Mattern said. “I am an avid NASA fan of course and hope to continue to do what I can to help with the NASA education arena as well.”