NASA Chief O’Keefe to Resign, Source Says
NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe will resign this week, a government official said Sunday, and a spokesman for Louisiana State University said O’Keefe was a leading candidate to become the school’s chancellor.
The LSU committee looking for a candidate to fill the $500,000-a-year job running the Baton Rouge campus will meet Thursday, and O’Keefe will make his case for the job, said Joel Tohline, head of the search team.
O’Keefe has led NASA for about three years, a period marred by the space shuttle Columbia accident that killed seven astronauts, as well as budget battles and debates over the future of American space travel.
O’Keefe plans to resign this week, said the government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the procedures for O’Keefe’s resignation were still being settled.
“The White House still has to decide how it wants to announce his departure,” the official said.
Despite O’Keefe’s scheduled appointment at LSU, the official said the NASA chief’s resignation was not linked to an offer from the university.
White House spokeswoman Suzy DeFrancis had no comment.
NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said: “When the administrator is prepared to announce his future plans, he will tell us and the public.”
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