After President Trump appointed a conservative Republican congressman from Oklahoma named Jim Bridenstine to become NASA's administrator, the legislator faced hard questions.

During a Senate confirmation hearing in late 2017, Bridenstine was asked repeatedly whether he would honor NASA's tradition of remaining a bipartisan, apolitical agency.

He has almost always chosen not to blame others for NASA's problems, even though he inherited an agency burdened by large programs like the Space Launch System rocket that are billions over budget and years behind schedule.

Instead, Bridenstine has sought to learn from the space policy mistakes of his predecessors—across multiple administrations and political backgrounds—instead of criticizing them.

NASA's commercial crew program that supported SpaceX has its roots in the George W.

And commercial crew under President Obama.

On Wednesday, President Trump visited Kennedy Space Center in anticipation of the Crew Dragon launch—which was scrubbed less than 20 minutes before liftoff due to weather.

He and Vice President Mike Pence have promised to return for Saturday's attempt, after which the president is scheduled to give a space policy speech in the historic Vehicle Assembly Building.

In remarks released by the White House on Wednesday, President Trump said of the commercial crew program, "Jim, you took it over from its infancy.

Perhaps in recognition of his audience of one at Kennedy Space Center, when asked if he wanted to add anything, Bridenstine did not mention the work of his predecessors.

To get a sense of what he might say, here is a sampling of things the president has said about space:.