spacetoday.net: Report: Moorman turns down NASA administrator post

Posted: Wed, Oct 24, 2001, 1:05 PM ET (1705 GMT)
NASA

Retired Air Force general Thomas Moorman, a leading candidate to succeed outgoing NASA administrator Dan Goldin, has reportedly declined the job, SPACE.com reported Wednesday. The article cited sources close to Moorman who said that the retired general has decided to remain in his position as a partner at consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Moorman, former commander of the Air Force Space Command and vice-chief of the Air Force, had been considered as a candidate to replace Goldin for several months. Speculation grew after Goldin announced last week that he will retire from the space agency next month; NASA Watch reported that Moorman had emerged as the leading candidate to take over the administrator's job. Moorman is not the first to express a lack of interest in the job: in March former congressman Robert Walker, an advisor to George W. Bush on space issues, said that he had neither been approached about nor was interested in the position.