NASA chief nominee promises to keep politics out of agency

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump’s nominee for NASA chief has been criticized for promoting political divisiveness and rejecting climate change science. He says he’ll run the space agency on a consensus agenda driven by science.

Democrats weren’t convinced Wednesday, with some calling him unfit.

They highlighted Oklahoma Rep. James Bridenstine’s past statements attacking fellow Republicans, Sen. Marco Rubio and then-Speaker John Boehner, for bipartisan efforts. Democrats pressed Bridenstine to acknowledge that humans cause global warming. He did.

Bridenstine vowed not to allow politics to interfere with science even on climate change, even if the Trump administration insists.

Trying to focus on the future, Bridenstine told the Senate Commerce Science and Technology Committee he will work to return American astronauts to the moon as a proving ground for sending people eventually to Mars.