NY Times By KENNETH CHANGMARCH 12, 2018
NASA has been without a permanent leader for more than a year. Now the agency’s temporary leader is leaving, too.
In an email to the space agency’s employees on Monday, Robert M. Lightfoot Jr., the acting administrator, announced that he would retire on April 30.
Mr. Lightfoot said he was leaving “with bittersweet feelings,†but did not say why he was retiring.
“I cannot express enough my gratitude to the entire NASA team for the support during my career and especially the last 14 months as your acting administrator,†Mr. Lightfoot wrote.
Mr. Lightfoot’s impending departure could leave a vacuum at the top of NASA just as a revived National Space Council, which last existed more than 20 years ago, looks to revamp American space policy.
The council, with Vice President Mike Pence as chairman, is to coordinate what various agencies, military and civilian, are doing in space. Two priorities are streamlining regulatory processes for space companies and returning astronauts to the moon.
More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/12/science/robert-lightfoot-nasa-retirement.html
