White House rejects claim that Muslim outreach is part of NASA’s mission

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White House denies NASA remark on Muslim outreach

WASHINGTON — The White House is contradicting the NASA administrator’s claim that President Barack Obama assigned him to reach out to Muslims on science matters.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently told Al-Jazeera network that one of the charges Obama gave him was “to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and engineering.”

Some conservative activists criticized the remarks.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that such activities are not among Bolden’s assigned tasks. He said administration officials have spoken with NASA about the matter.