Matt Anderson testifies at a March 5 Senate Commerce Committee confirmation hearing for his nomination to be NASA deputy administrator. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate confirmed Matt Anderson on May 18 as NASA’s deputy administrator, the second-in-command of the space agency.
The Senate voted 46-43 along party lines to confirm a group of nominees to various government positions, including Anderson as NASA deputy administrator.
Anderson, a retired Air Force colonel, was first nominated by the Trump administration in May 2025. The nomination was returned by the Senate at the end of the year after it did not act on it, and the White House renominated Anderson in January, about a month after Jared Isaacman was confirmed as administrator.
At a March 5 confirmation hearing, Anderson said he would work with Isaacman to advance a national space policy that calls for returning NASA astronauts to the moon by 2028 and establishing a lunar base.
