Trump's choice for NASA administrator must be confirmed by the Senate. If either Trump or the Senate stalls, how might that affect NASA's long-term plans?

In part 3 of our Horizon Goal series, I described how the 176-day delay on Bolden's confirmation may have contributed to resistance the Obama administration encountered when it canceled George W. Bush's return-to-the-Moon Constellation program.

The Congressional Budget Act requires the president to submit an annual federal budget request to Congress on or before the first Monday in February. The budget is a common place to introduce major program changes, and in Obama's case, it was the February 2010 budget that canceled Constellation.

The independent review panel assigned to evaluate Constellation would have ideally been convened after Bolden took office. But after a few months of delays, the panel was finally commissioned in May 2009, just before Bolden's nomination. By the time Bolden took office, it was July, and the review panel's report wasn't issued until October.

That left just three-and-a-half months to orchestrate major program changes before the next budget release. Due to a political miscalculation, the short turnaround time, or some combination of both, the Obama administration did not corral widespread support prior to announcing Constellation's cancellation. The proposal was met with immediate backlash, culminating with the Congressional compromise that created the Space Launch System.

Therefore, if the Trump administration plans to introduce major NASA changes, it could be advantageous to get a new administrator in office sooner rather than later.

Charles Bolden leaves NASA after 2,744 days. The NASA administrator record holder is Daniel Goldin, who, in the course of 3,517 days, served both Bush administrations and the entirety of the Clinton presidency.

Bolden's stint as administrator is the third-longest in terms of consecutive days, and the fourth in terms of total days.