Charles Frank Bolden, Jr

Former radio amateur appointed NASA administrator

Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., who used to hold the Amateur Radio callsign KE4IQB, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday as the twelfth administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Charles KE4IQB was an active participant in the the Space Amateur Radio Experiment, known as SAREX, and commanded Shuttle missions STS-45 and STS-60.

As administrator, Bolden will lead the NASA team and manage its resources to advance the agency's missions and goals.

"It is an honor to have been nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to lead this great NASA team," Bolden said.

"Today, we have to choose. Either we can invest in building on our hard-earned world technological leadership or we can abandon this commitment, ceding it to other nations who are working diligently to push the frontiers of space."

"If we choose to lead, we must build on our investment in the International Space Station, accelerate development of our next generation launch systems to enable expansion of human exploration, enhance NASA's capability to study Earth's environment, lead space science to new achievements, continue cutting-edge aeronautics research, support the innovation of American entrepreneurs, and inspire a rising generation of boys and girls to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and math."

Bolden's confirmation marks the beginning of his second stint with NASA. His 34-year career with the Marine Corps included 14 years as a member of NASA's Astronaut Office. After joining the office in 1980, he traveled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle between 1986 and 1994, commanding two of the missions. His flights included deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and the first joint U.S.-Russian shuttle mission, which featured a cosmonaut as a member of his crew.

During his astronaut career, Bolden also drew technical assignments as the Astronaut Office safety officer; technical assistant to the director of Flight Crew Operations; special assistant to the director of the Johnson Space Center; chief of the Safety Division at Johnson (overseeing safety efforts for the return to flight after the 1986 Challenger accident); lead astronaut for vehicle test and checkout at the Kennedy Space Center; and assistant deputy administrator at NASA Headquarters. He was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in May 2006.

Immediately prior to Bolden's nomination for the NASA administrator's job, he was employed as the chief executive officer of JACKandPANTHER LLC, a small business enterprise providing leadership, military and aerospace consulting, and motivational speaking.

A resident of Houston, the 62-year-old South Carolina native earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical science from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968. He completed flight training in 1970 and became a naval aviator, serving as a combat pilot in Southeast Asia and later, as a test pilot. Bolden retired from the Marine Corps in 2003 with the rank of major general.

Picture of Charles Bolden KE4IQB using the Amateur Radio Equipment on Shuttle mission STS-45
http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/
nasaNAS~7~7~41939~145783:STS-45-Commander-
Bolden-uses-SAREX-

Charles Bolden, KE4IQB, was commander of Shuttle mission STS-60
http://www.arrl.org/files/sarex/STS-60/sts60fct.txt

Astronaut-Ham Page
http://www.w5rrr.org/astros.html

Astronaut (and Former Astronaut) Hams
http://users.tellurian.com/gjurrens/astrohams.html

Charles Frank Bolden, Jr Biography
http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/bolden_bio.html

NASA - Bolden and Garver Confirmed by U.S. Senate
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jul/
HQ_09-165_Bolden_and_Garver.html