Obama's NASA Chief Administrator Nomination: Charlie Bolden

President Barack Obama chose four-time space shuttle astronaut and retired Marine Corps General, Charles Bolden, as NASA’s next Chief Administrator.

Bolden is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a Marine aviator with 100 combat missions in Vietnam, Bolden will now begin a series of courtesy calls to senators on Capitol Hill who will review his nomination, starting with the 25-member Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

He would be coming in at a time where there is great uncertainty about the future of our space program. The agency faces deepening budget constraints as it prepares to retire the shuttle fleet by 2010, contract with the Russians to deliver astronauts and U.S. cargo to the orbiting International Space Station for five years and at the same time, deployment of the next space exploration system to return astronauts to the moon by 2020.

I personally feel Charlie Bolden is an excellent choice. He has the right experience, background, training and temperment. He'd be a great leader.