MORE GOODNESS FROM PETER THIEL: Thiel, Others Push for Trump NASA Team Expansion: Expected appointments of outspoken commercial-space advocates to NASA transition team reflect venture capitalist’s influence.

Venture capitalist Peter Thiel and others have successfully pushed for advocates of commercial space ventures to join President-elect Donald Trump’s NASA transition team, a result of an internal tug of war over policy directions and future decision makers at the agency.

Transition leaders are poised to tap Alan Stern, chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a leading trade group, and Alan Lindenmoyer, a former head of NASA’s commercial space taxi program, to serve on the agency’s so-called landing team, according to people familiar with the matter.

Consultant Charles Miller, another ex-NASA official who championed commercial space programs over the years, also is slated to be appointed to the same panel, they said.

I’m happy to see this treated as a priority. It was beginning to look like too many business-as-usual types at NASA, and this is a welcome correction. Also, see this column of mine from last month.