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The Conversation
The Conversation
Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University

What does the NASA administrator do? The agency’s leader reaches for the stars while navigating budgets and politics back on Earth

The head of NASA represents the agency to Congress and on the global stage. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Leaders of NASA sit in an awkward position. While they are the head of a widely recognized organization, they’re often not the most famous individual in the agency. More people probably know the names of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the astronauts currently “stranded” on the International Space Station, than Bill Nelson, the current NASA administrator.

Astronauts might be the people most closely associated with NASA, but administrators are arguably more integral to getting programs off the ground.

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