Published: Thursday, Jan. 08, 2009 / Updated: Thursday, Jan. 08, 2009 07:15 AM

Reports: S.C. native candidate to head NASA

Charles Bolden Jr. won't confirm 'rumor'

COLUMBIA -- Retired Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr. is a candidate to head NASA, several media outlets have reported, but the Columbia native said Wednesday he hasn't talked to anyone from the Obama team about the position.

The former astronaut, who has been to space four times, heard of the idea from a friend who read a blog posting. NBC News and newspapers in Orlando and Houston carried the reports.

Members of the Obama transition team declined to comment.

"As far as I know, it's a rumor," Bolden said. "I have not talked to anyone in the transition team nor any representative of the Obama administration. Personally, I think it's probably early for the transition team to even be thinking about NASA."

Based on his experience, Bolden said a new NASA administrator isn't named until several months into an administration.

Asked if he would consider the position, "I never say never to anything."

This is the third time Bolden, 62, has been mentioned for one of the top two jobs at NASA.

In 2004, he was among a handful being mentioned as the next head of the agency but was never contacted about the post.

Two years earlier, the White House withdrew his nomination for the No. 2 job, saying he was needed to fight the war on terrorism.

Bolden is CEO of JackandPanther, a military, aerospace and leadership consulting firm based in his Houston home.

His wife, Jackie, is president of the firm, which has contracts with NASA and military-related and security-related contracts.

Under one contract, Bolden serves on the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, a nine-member group that advises the administrator, he said.

Bolden retired in 2002 from the Marine Corps, after serving 34 years.

He is the former commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing in San Diego.

Bolden serves on the board of directors for St. Lukes Episcopal Health System, Marathon Oil and Bristow Helicopters, all of which are in Houston, he said.

He also is on the board of directors of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, he said.

He is a 1964 graduate of C.A. Johnson High School, where his late father, Charles Bolden Sr., was a teacher and administrator.

Bolden graduated from the Naval Academy in June 1968 and two days later married Jackie in the chapel at Annapolis.

He flew more than 100 combat sorties during the Vietnam War.

Bolden qualified as a space shuttle pilot in 1981.

In 1990, he piloted the space shuttle Discovery and helped deploy the Hubble Space Telescope.

On his final mission in 1994, Bolden commanded the Discovery flight that was the first joint U.S.-Russia space mission.

Bolden also served as a deputy commander of U.S. forces in Japan and commanding general of a unit involved in 1998's Operation Desert Thunder in Iraq.

Whether the rumors are true or not, Bolden said he's honored someone has taken the time "to think I'm qualified."