SENIOR ASTRONAUT NOMINATED TO HEAD NASA

The nation's space agency will be led for the first time by ``a hero of its own making,'' President Bush said in announcing he will nominate astronaut Richard Truly as administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Truly, who has been an astronaut since 1969, was pilot of the second shuttle flight in 1981 and has been associate NASA administrator for space flight since 1986. After the Challenger disaster in 1986, Truly was in charge of redesigning the shuttle's boosters and overhauling the shuttle safety program. The nomination must be confirmed by the Senate.