Newly confirmed NASA chief Bill Nelson praised the decision on Saturday, saying Harris is “the perfect person to lead the federal government's space policy.” He didn't cite any specific credentials that make Harris the ideal leader for the council, such as relevant experience, education or a passion for space exploration.

Harris is a lawyer by training, whose top issues as a senator and failed presidential candidate included criminal justice, race, climate change, middle-class tax cuts, government-run health care, promoting a $15 minimum wage and protecting abortion rights. She was also hailed as the first female vice president, the first black vice president and the first vice president of South Asian descent.

Perhaps her most noteworthy brushes with NASA came in February, when she called astronaut Victor Glover at the International Space Station to congratulate him on being the first black person to fly on a commercial spacecraft, and March, when she called female astronauts Shannon Walker and Kate Rubins at ISS to congratulate them on being “women in space.”

Harris welcomed her latest appointment, declaring:

As I've said before, in America, when we shoot for the moon, we plant our flag on it. I am honored to lead our National Space Council.

Rachel Palermo, assistant press secretary to Harris, posted a list of issues on which Harris will focus at the council. Some of the priorities are predictable, such as “peaceful exploration objectives with allies,” but others are head-scratchers, such as “diversity and economic development” and “climate change.”