The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is expected to hold a confirmation hearing July 8 for retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden and Lori Garver, the White House's nominees for NASA's new administrator and NASA deputy administrator, respectively.

Although the committee had not formally scheduled the hearing at press time, multiple sources confirmed the date was being considered.

Bolden is a former space shuttle commander and Garver is a former NASA associate administrator for policy and plans. The two were nominated as a pair May 23.

Last month, key members of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee began clearing the way for Bolden's swift confirmation. NASA has been without a chief since former administrator Michael Griffin, who was appointed in during the term of President George W. Bush, stepped down in January as President Barack Obama was sworn in.

Since then, NASA associate administrator Chris Scolese has been serving as the space agency's interim chief.

Bolden joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1980 and flew on four space shuttle missions between 1986 and 1994, when he left the space agency to return to active duty in the Marine Corps. Garver served as a NASA associate administrator for policy and plans during the Clinton Administration and is a Washington-based aerospace consultant.

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