Senate Opponents Doubt His Judgment : Fletcher Confirmed, 89-9, to Resume Top NASA Job

James C. Fletcher, 66, an educator and aerospace industry executive, who headed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration when the United States launched the space shuttle development program, was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday as the new administrator of the beleaguered space agency.

The 89-9 vote was taken after only two hours of debate, during which the outmanned Democratic opposition questioned Fletcher’s judgment and suggested that an outsider with no previous ties to the agency was needed to revamp it in the wake of the Challenger tragedy and Saturday’s loss of a Delta launch vehicle carrying a $57-million weather satellite.

Past Performance Criticized

Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), who cast the only dissenting vote when Fletcher was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee last week, Tuesday pointed to published reports of widespread waste in the space agency during Fletcher’s previous tenure at NASA and of excessively optimistic predictions on the cost of shuttle operations.

“The problems at NASA began under Dr. Fletcher. The drift, the loss of focus, the mismanagement, the waste . . . all began in the period immediately after the Apollo program, during the transition from Apollo to the shuttle,” Gore said. “Now we are asked to go back and put him in charge of NASA again. It is a mistake.”

The presidential commission investigating the Jan. 28 Challenger accident, which killed its crew of seven, is continuing its work on a final report, due to be sent to President Reagan in less than a month.

More Changes Expected

NASA sources said they expect further high-level changes at the agency, including the replacement of Deputy Administrator William R. Graham, who has served as acting administrator since shortly after the Challenger disaster. Graham, Reagan Administration sources said, is one of the candidates being considered for the post of White House science adviser.

The Administration has yet to say what it plans to do about the space shuttle fleet, which now has only three orbiters. But Fletcher has said that he favors construction of a new orbiter to replace the Challenger and use of expendable rockets to launch certain payloads.

Fletcher, a former president of the University of Utah, served as administrator of the space agency for six years during the 1970s, a time when NASA not only launched the shuttle development program but carried out the last manned flights to the moon and the Apollo-Soyuz mission with the Soviets.

Persuaded by Reagan

At the time of the Challenger accident, NASA Administrator James M. Beggs was preparing to begin a leave of absence to defend himself against criminal charges of conspiracy to defraud the government while he was a General Dynamics Corp. executive. Beggs submitted his resignation after the shuttle disaster.

Fletcher, when approached by White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan, declined to return to his old post at NASA. He changed his mind only after President Reagan personally urged him to take the job.

In Tuesday’s action, the eight Democrats who joined Gore in voting against confirmation were Sens. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, Thomas F. Eagleton of Missouri, Gary Hart of Colorado, John Kerry of Massachusetts, William Proxmire of Wisconsin, Jim Sasser of Tennessee and Paul Simon of Illinois.