Charles Bolden, a former shuttle commander, will run NASA

Will replace Michael Griffin who resigned prior to Barack Obama entering the office of the President * Will be the first black person in the position * President Obama also chose Laurie Gerber to be the Deputy Administrator of NASA under Bolden

While the space shuttle Atlantis was hovering in space waiting for the weather to improve in order to land in Florida, and before landing in California, it was announced yesterday from the White House that President Barack Obama had chosen Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, to be the director of NASA. President Obama also selected Lori Gerber to be NASA's deputy administrator under Bolden. Obama said: "These talented individuals will help NASA push the limits of science, astronauts and researchers in the 21st century."

Charles (Charlie) Bolden, was a Major General in the US Navy. Bolden previously took part in four space missions, and accumulated over 680 hours of flight in space around the Earth. Among other things, he took part in the deployment mission of the Hubble Space Telescope. He will be the first black American to head NASA.

Now it remains to wait for the Senate's approval regarding the appointments of Bolden and Gerber, which can sometimes take some time. If appointed, Bolden would be the first black administrator of NASA.

Bolden will have to work hard, since even though NASA has a very large financial budget, it is not certain that the budget of 18.686 billion dollars for 2010 will be approved. Among NASA's requests are 456 million dollars for scientific research on Earth, and 630 million for research flights. On top of that, NASA intends to ground its shuttle fleet and produce a new type of spacecraft for future space missions, a process that will require several years in which it will depend on Russia's launch services to bring American astronauts to the space station.

Outgoing director Michael Griffin says Bolden would be "perfect" for the role.

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