Panel Members Seek $3 Billion for Recovery Program : House Plan Would Finance New Shuttle

Frustrated by White House delays in producing a plan to rebuild the American space program, two top members of the House space subcommittee today plan to seek authorization for construction of a new space shuttle and to direct the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to use expendable rockets to reduce the backlog of government satellites accumulated since the Challenger tragedy.

Rep. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the subcommittee chairman, and Rep. Robert S. Walker (R-Pa.), its ranking minority member, said they plan to amend NASA’s authorization bill, calling for an authorization of some $3 billion for the recovery program. Confident that their plan will be adopted, they said they expect to send the revised NASA authorization legislation to the House Science and Technology Committee when Congress returns from its Labor Day recess in early September.

Criticizing the Reagan Administration’s repeated delays in producing a plan for recovery from the Challenger disaster, Nelson and Walker said in a joint statement: “The nation’s position in space is more precarious now than at any time since Sputnik.”

Seeks Private Funds

In addition to authorizing construction of a new orbiter to replace Challenger, the Nelson-Walker plan proposes to direct NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher to explore potential avenues of private financing in which the government could recover any outlays for the new vehicle.

Walker suggested one solution might be to sell one of the three remaining orbiters to private industry and use the proceeds for construction of the Challenger replacement.

Nelson said the cost of a new orbiter, including the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, space suits and other equipment lost in the Challenger cargo bay, would total some $2.8 billion. But the plan would require that $400 million worth of structural spares already built by Rockwell International Corp. go into the new vehicle.

Similar to Administration Plan

White House officials have indicated in recent days that President Reagan will announce this week his own decision on a Challenger replacement and a strategy for paying for it.

Nelson and Walker told reporters Wednesday they expect the Administration to settle on a plan similar to their own.

With the 99th Congress nearing an end, Nelson said he had concluded it was necessary to move now.

The Administration, he said, “hashed this over for 6 1/2 months” without making a decision, leaving the beleaguered space agency “awash in uncertainty.”

Sees Proposal as Stimulus

Besides replacing the Challenger, the new proposal will provide a stimulus for private industry to enter development of launch vehicles for commercial payloads, Walker said. Under the proposal, the government would contract for launch services for its satellites, theoretically making it possible for industry to profitably expand production to provide launchers for commercial customers, as well.

Wednesday afternoon, the space subcommittee opened hearings on the need for expendable launch vehicles.

Fletcher said a “quick look” shows that the space agency will not need as many expendable launch vehicles as projected by Nelson and Walker.

Suggests New Rocket

A Hughes Aircraft Co. executive suggested that a modern expendable rocket designed by the company in cooperation with the Boeing Co. and the Rocketdyne division of Rockwell International could launch payloads bigger than the shuttle and drastically reduce the cost of putting them in orbit.

Named the Jarvis, for astronaut Gregory Jarvis, who was killed in the Challenger accident, the vehicle would use the engines developed for Saturn rockets in the Apollo program and the liquid fuel tanks designed for the shuttle system.

The cost of getting the rocket system built would be approximately $1 billion, with a recurring cost of $150 million for each new rocket, said Anthony J. Iorillo, Hughes Space and Communications Group president.