Head of NASA Says He Works With a “Bunch of Wizards”

Is he wrong?

Wizarding World

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson isn't one to mince words — but in a recent interview, he did use a colorful turn of phrase to describe his colleagues at the space agency.

Speaking to South Florida's Local 10 News, Nelson described, apropos to almost nothing, his NASA colleagues as "a bunch of wizards"

The quip came in response to a reporter's light-hearted closer question at the end of an interview that primarily focused on the seemingly cursed Boeing Starliner mission and the space race with China, the latter of which Nelson has sounded off on using interesting language more than once.

"Are you having fun?" asked newscaster Glenna Miberg. "I mean, last we saw of you, you were in the Florida Senate and now you're the top rocket scientist."

True to his down-home manner, Nelson laughingly responded by characterizing himself as a "country lawyer... who happened to get a chance to fly in space almost four decades ago" — a reference, of course, to his six-day trip amongst the stars on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986.

Packed Resume

Both before and after his first stint at NASA in the 80s, Nelson represented Florida in Congress. As the career civil servant maintains, his turns as the head of the Subcommittees on Science and Space in both the House and the Senate provided the Florida native with the right stuff to run the agency.

"I'm glad that I can now use what I've learned over the years, including the chairmanship of the [space subcommittee] in the Senate, and now try to offer some leadership," Nelson said.

Indeed, it's clear from this interview and other previous remarks that the NASA administrator not only expresses some serious gratitude over his role at its helm, but also that he greatly admires the mythical beings he works with at the agency.

"It's hard to believe today marks three years since I was sworn in as NASA Administrator," Nelson tweeted last month. "What a privilege I have to work every day with the wizards of @NASA."

"We've expanded American leadership in space, in the skies, and here on Earth — for the benefit of all," he continued. "Let's keep going."

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