The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed NASA like no other event in the agency’s six-decade history, dispersing its workforce and forcing it to make tough decisions about which projects to continue and which to put on hold. Credit: SpaceNews illustration

On March 2, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine headed out of a Colorado hotel after speaking at a suborbital research conference. He was followed into the hotel lobby by a group of people: some wanted to give him their business cards, others just wanted to shake his hand or pose with him for a selfie. His aides, meanwhile, were reminding him it was time to get to the airport for the flight back to Washington.

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Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science...