James Frederick Bridenstine was born on June 15,1975 and is an American military officer and politician who served as the 13th administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
38 Facts About Jim Bridenstine
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Jim Bridenstine was the United States representative for Oklahoma's 1st congressional district, based in Tulsa from January 3,2013, to April 23,2018.
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Jim Bridenstine was on the Committee on Science, Space and Technology during his time in Congress.
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Jim Bridenstine is the first elected official to be appointed NASA Administrator.
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Jim Bridenstine stepped down as the head of NASA on January 20,2021, to make way for a new leader in the Biden Administration.
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Jim Bridenstine was born on June 15,1975, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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Jim Bridenstine grew up in Arlington, Texas, the son of an elementary school teacher and an accountant, where he became an Eagle Scout.
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Jim Bridenstine graduated from Jenks High School in 1993, and earned a scholarship to Rice University in Houston, Texas, but injured his shoulder during his second year; he took five years to graduate, in 1998.
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Jim Bridenstine triple majored with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Psychology, and Business.
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Jim Bridenstine later received a Master's in Business Administration from Cornell University, awarded in 2009.
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Jim Bridenstine joined the Navy in May 1998, after graduating from Rice University.
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Jim Bridenstine was a Naval Aviator in both the active duty United States Navy and the United States Naval Reserve.
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Jim Bridenstine flew the E-2C Hawkeye aircraft as part of a carrier air wing with the US Navy and in Central and South America in support of the War on Drugs with the Naval Reserve.
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In 2006, Jim Bridenstine bought stock in the Rocket Racing League, which planned to begin races in 2008.
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In 2007, after the end of his active duty in the Navy, Jim Bridenstine moved to Orlando, Florida, where he worked at Wyle Laboratories, a defense consulting firm.
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In December 2008, Jim Bridenstine became the executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum.
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Jim Bridenstine left the executive director's position in August 2010, along with the museum's financial controller and the director of marketing.
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In September 2011, Jim Bridenstine launched a campaign to unseat five-term incumbent US Congressman John Sullivan.
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Jim Bridenstine had effectively clinched a seat in Congress by ousting Sullivan in the Republican primary.
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Jim Bridenstine received $29,000 from donors associated with the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians and the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan, per an analysis of OpenSecrets.
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Jim Bridenstine retained his seat in the US House of Representatives in the 2016 election.
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Jim Bridenstine had already declared that he would not run for re-election in 2018 after making a three-term pledge.
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Jim Bridenstine sat on the Committee on Armed Services and Committee on Science, Space and Technology during the 113th, 114th, and 115th Congresses.
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Jim Bridenstine is a member of the Freedom Caucus and the House Baltic Caucus.
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In 2013, Jim Bridenstine returned two of the gifts to the donor; he had been the only lawmaker to disclose gifts from the trip on his financial disclosure forms.
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On September 1,2017, the White House announced that Jim Bridenstine was President Donald Trump's preferred pick to head NASA.
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Jim Bridenstine has criticized NASA spending on climate science and has supported increased privatization of US civil and military space activities.
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Jim Bridenstine became the first member of Congress to lead NASA.
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Jim Bridenstine was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence at the NASA Headquarters building in Washington, DC on April 23,2018.
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Jim Bridenstine stated that for it to happen, the Space Launch System would need to be accelerated, along with various other aspects such as the LOP-G, an orbiting space station around the Moon.
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Jim Bridenstine considered commercial Heavy-Lift rockets such as the Delta IV Heavy or Falcon Heavy.
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Jim Bridenstine established a working relationship with SpaceX CEO and Founder Elon Musk.
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Jim Bridenstine played a huge role in implementing President Trump's Space Policy Directive One and developed the planned architecture for a return to the Moon.
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Jim Bridenstine decided that the lunar lander for the Artemis program would be developed commercially similar to the model used for NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
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Jim Bridenstine criticized the Obama administration for spending "30 times as much money" on climate science as on weather forecasting.
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PolitiFact says of this claim that "Jim Bridenstine does have a point that climate change research exceeds weather forecasting expenditures, but he's overstated the discrepancy," and they rate the assertion as "mostly false".
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In 2017, Jim Bridenstine supported James Langevin's legislation requiring the Defense Department to report on the effects of climate change on military installations and strategic battle plans.
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On November 6,2004, in Fort Worth, Texas, Jim Bridenstine married Michelle Deanne Ivory.