Musk's rhetoric doesn't threaten SpaceX and NASA relationship, agency head says

• "The good news about that is that Elon has a president that he lets run the company," Nelson told Axios' Niala Boodhoo at Axios House Climate Week/UN General Assembly in New York City.
• Nelson said headlines about Musk may be a distraction to the public, but they're not a distraction to NASA.

Zoom in: "She's done a phenomenal job," Nelson said of Shotwell. "And as we say in the South, the proof is in the pudding."

• He celebrated the company's success developing the Falcon 9 rocket and upcoming lunar mission.

Between the lines: Williams and Wilmore's plight has captured the public interest because "it's a human drama of life or death," Nelson said.

• The astronauts have been left in orbit for months for what should have been a weeklong mission following technical issues with the Boeing Starliner's first crewed test flight.
• SpaceX is now expected to bring the astronauts home.

Zoom out: Musk's company has dominated the space industry.

• This year, NASA awarded SpaceX an $843 million contract to bring the International Space Station out of orbit.
• A SpaceX crew undertook the first ever commercial spacewalk earlier this month.

Context: President Biden appointed Nelson, previously a senator from Florida, to lead NASA in 2021.

• Part of his mission was to support NASA's relationship with the commercial space industry.

Go deeper: U.S. returns to the moon as first private spacecraft touches down