The Nation : Truly Expected to Be Named NASA Chief

President Bush is expected to name Navy Adm. Richard H. Truly to head NASA, Administration sources said, which would make him the first astronaut to head the space agency. Truly, associate administrator for spaceflight at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is expected to be nominated for the post this week, said officials, who declined to be identified. He would succeed James C. Fletcher, who retired from the post after holding it for more than two years. Truly was pilot of the second space shuttle flight--a two-day mission in 1981--and commander of the eighth flight, the first night launch and landing mission, in 1983. He is credited with playing a major role in returning the United States to manned spaceflight after the Challenger disaster on Jan. 28, 1986.