In describing NASA’s bold future, Jim Bridenstine points out he is the first administrator of the space agency who wasn’t alive for the Apollo-era moon landings.

The indelible images witnessed by Bridenstine and his generation are of Space Shuttle Challenger exploding 73 seconds after launch and the Columbia breaking apart as it re-entered the atmosphere. Those tragedies are stark juxtapositions to Neil Armstrong’s “small step,” or Alan Shepard’s “sand trap” golf shots with a makeshift 6-iron, or “moon buggies” bouncing on the lunar surface.

Tuesday marks one year since the former Tulsa congressman was sworn in as NASA’s 13th administrator. Eleven months afterward, Vice President Mike Pence leveled Bridenstine a daring directive: Land the first woman and next man on the moon within five years “by any means necessary” and establish a sustainable human presence by 2028.

In a phone conversation last week from NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., Bridenstine, 43, told the Tulsa World that the challenge is an opportunity for America to lead the world again. A beefed-up NASA budget proposal for Congress to consider is forthcoming to let the space agency accelerate its manned lunar program.