WASHINGTON — A Republican former NASA administrator is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, for president.
Appearing at an online fundraising event Aug. 15, Sean O’Keefe, who served as NASA administrator from late 2001 through 2004 under President George W. Bush, said he was supporting Harris for president in part because of her work on space issues but also because of what he considered to be a lack of a traditional Republican opponent.
“Months ago, it was apparent to me that there would not be a Republican in the 2024 race for the presidency, certainly not a candidate with the principles and policies I ever associated with Republicans,” said O’Keefe, referring to the Republican nominee, former president Donald Trump. “But no matter. Vice President Harris is a very active candidate for president who supports space objectives to the benefit of all humankind.”
He cited Harris’s role as chair of the National Space Council and work in an administration that has largely maintained continuity in space policy, such as the Artemis lunar exploration campaign. He connected those policies with the Vision for Space Exploration that the George W. Bush administration introduced in 2004 when he was NASA administrator, which also called for a human return to the moon.
“All these objectives have largely been sustained by bipartisan support in Congress and by four different presidential administrations,” he continued. “If ever we wanted to find evidence that space is nonpartisan, this is it.”
That continuity was not always on a straight line, though. The Obama administration ended the Vision for Space Exploration and plans to return humans to the moon even as it accelerated development of commercial capabilities started in the previous administration. The Trump administration restored a human lunar exploration program that the Biden administration has continued.
O’Keefe called Harris an “enthusiastic leader” that can continue those exploration objectives with international partnerships. “For her commitment and dedication to these larger goals,” he said, “I am very proud to support Vice President Kamala Harris to be president.”
O’Keefe was one of two former NASA administrators to speak at the “Space Cadets 4 Harris” event. The other, Charles Bolden, was administrator during the Obama administration after a career in the Marine Corps and as a NASA astronaut. That career, he said, had led him to stay out of politics.
“But this is not an ordinary time,” he said, noting he had known Harris since her time in California politics when he was stationed at Marine Corps bases in the state. He also cited her work leading the National Space Council. “She got us to the point where we’re all coordinated,” he said, citing that as among the reasons “why I think she is the best person to become president of the United States.”
The two-and-a-half-hour event featured an eclectic mix of speakers, including several former NASA and private astronauts as well as actors who appeared on various Star Trek television series. Also speaking were Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and George Whitesides, the former NASA chief of staff and Virgin Galactic chief executive who is running for Congress in California.
Many of the speakers made little or no mention of space policy, focusing instead on broader electoral issues. Those who did often emphasized, like O’Keefe, the traditional bipartisan nature of space policy and the continuity in that policy between the current and previous administration, rather than to identify differences between Harris and Trump on those issues.
“Luckily, support for space exploration and funding for NASA is, for the most part, bipartisan,” said Emily Calandrelli, a science communicator, near the end of the meeting. “So, whether or not we will explore is not really my concern for this election, but who will be doing the exploring is.”
