NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks prior to the launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule to the International Space Station in a do-over test flight at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. July 29, 2021.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks prior to the launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule to the International Space Station in a do-over test flight at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. July 29, 2021. Reuters / JOE SKIPPER

NASA administrator Bill Nelson tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday night, the U.S. space agency chief said on Wednesday.

Nelson was poised to attend an event at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, ahead of the July 12 release of the new James Webb Space Telescope's first images of the cosmos.

"I wish I could be there, but I tested positive for COVID last night," Nelson remotely told reporters during a news conference.

Nelson, 79, was vaccinated and boosted against the coronavirus and is experiencing mild symptoms, his press secretary told Reuters.