Jim Bridenstine leaves the position of chief administrator of NASA: he greets and thanks everyone with a video, posted on social networks during the inauguration ceremony of the new president of the United States.
Bridenstine, appointed head of the American space agency in September 2017 by Trump, had already announced the decision to leave last November, after the election of Biden, motivating the choice with the need for NASA to have a leader in greater harmony with the new administration.
It has been my great honor to serve as your @NASA Administrator.
I will miss the amazing NASA family and will forever be grateful for my time at this incredible agency.
Ad astra.
pic.twitter.com/Zba4MTawPV
- Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) January 20, 2021
In her farewell speech, Bridenstine recalls that in her mandate she has always worked "to eliminate divisions", which is fundamental "to obtain bipartisan and apolitical consensus with commercial and international partners: this puts us in a position to move forward along a significant path which crosses not only administrations, but decades and generations ".
Bridenstine then underlines the importance of "working together in an interdisciplinary way" to go to the Moon and acquire the knowledge "we need to learn to live and work on another planet for a long time, so that we can then go to Mars".
An example of unity comes from the Artemis program, which will take the first woman and the next man to the moon.
"With the Artemis program we have united industry, government and international partners to say that we can go to the moon, where we can all benefit, and create a sustainable program for the future."
With a voice broken by emotion, Bridenstine greets and thanks all the NASA workers "for the experiences lived together, the difficult moments and also the great results" and concludes by offering support to her successor.
