Updated Jan. 21 7 a.m. Eastern with NASA statement.
WASHINGTON — The second Trump administration started with soaring rhetoric about sending humans to Mars but confusion about who was leading NASA on an acting basis.
President Donald Trump, in his inaugural address shortly after being sworn in as the 47th president Jan. 20, mentioned human missions to Mars as part of the “manifest destiny” he envisioned for the United States.
“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” he said, to applause from the audience in the Capitol Rotunda for the inauguration. He did not elaborate or set a specific goal, although the comments echoed language from last fall’s campaign.
While Trump reiterated that support for human missions to Mars, there was confusion about who is temporarily in charge of the agency with the resignation at the end of the Biden administration of Bill Nelson as administrator and Pam Melroy as deputy administrator.
As Trump spoke, NASA updated its website to list Jim Free as acting administrator. Free is the associate administrator and highest-ranking civil servant at the agency. The website also listed several other reshufflings, with Cathy Koerner, the associate administrator for exploration systems development, taking Free’s job as acting administrator on an acting basis. Lori Glaze, Koerner’s deputy, moved into the role of acting associate administrator for exploration systems development.
Free was widely expected to be acting administrator. In presidential transitions in the recent past, the associate administrator has served as acting administrator for periods ranging from a few months to, in Trump’s first term, more than a year until the White House nominated and the Senate confirmed a new administrator.
However, in a statement shortly after the inauguration, the White House announced that Janet Petro would serve as acting administrator. Petro is the director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, having led the center since mid-2021 after more than a decade as deputy center director.
While associate administrators have traditionally filled in as acting administrator, there is no requirement that they do so, and presidents have the ability to appoint other officials to lead the agency on an acting basis.
It was not clear what caused the conflicting public statements. “The Trump Administration has named Janet Petro the acting administrator of NASA, effective Monday,” a NASA spokesperson said in a statement late Jan. 20, but did not provide additional details. As of early Jan. 21, at least one NASA website still listed Free as acting administrator.
Whoever is acting administrator may serve in that role for only a short time. The White House also formally nominated Jan. 20 Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator. Trump announced Dec. 4 that he would nominate Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payment processing company Shift4 and a private astronaut who flew on two SpaceX Crew Dragon missions, but could not formally nominate him until after he took office.
Isaacman’s nomination will be taken up by the Senate Commerce Committee, which has not yet announced a date for a confirmation hearing for him.