U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) issued the following statement in response to the news of NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot’s planned April 30 departure.

“The country owes Robert a debt of gratitude for his many years of outstanding service and leadership at NASA,” said Nelson.  He’ll surely be missed but I’m confident that there are a number of highly qualified individuals at the agency who can assume his role in the interim and continue the great work being done there to get us to Mars.” 

“Longer term, the White House needs to nominate a space professional for NASA administrator who will actually garner strong bipartisan support.  The current nominee doesn’t have the votes.”