Posted: Mon, Dec 13, 2004, 7:51 PM ET (0051 GMT)
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe submitted his resignation to President Bush on Monday. In a statement released late Monday afternoon NASA announced that O'Keefe would leave the space agency after the President selects and NASA confirms a successor, a process that O'Keefe said he hopes should be done by February. Earlier in the day White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that O'Keefe "previously indicated" to the White House his intent to resign. O'Keefe is expected to visit Louisiana State University later this week, where he is the leading candidate to be the university's new chancellor. O'Keefe has been NASA administrator for almost exactly three years, having been brought in to restore financial credibility to an agency. His term as administrator was marked by both the loss of the space shuttle Columbia on STS-107 in February 2003, as well as the development of a new space exploration policy unveiled earlier this year.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  AFP article
•  Orlando Sentinel article
•  NASA press release