President Barack Obama has chosen retired astronaut Charles Bolden to lead Nasa, ending months of speculation over who would lead the space agency, BBC reported.
Lori Garver, a former Nasa official and space adviser to the Obama campaign, was named as his deputy. Both positions require US Senate confirmation.
If confirmed, Maj-Gen Bolden, 62, would be only the second astronaut to lead Nasa during its 50-year history.
Vice-Adm Richard Truly, who ran Nasa from 1989-1992, was the first.
"He's a real leader," George Abbey, a former head of Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and friend of the major-general, told the Associated Press news agency.
"Nasa has been looking for a leader like this that they could have confidence in."