Reagan Seeks Funds to Build Fourth Shuttle

President Reagan formally asked Congress Tuesday for money to restore the space shuttle fleet to four ships.

Reagan’s approval of a replacement for the shuttle Challenger was announced in August, and the request for $272 million to begin the first phase of construction had been expected. The new ship, expected to be ready to fly in 1991, will cost about $2 billion.

Meanwhile, NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher reiterated his call for a fifth orbiter, saying that it is “absolutely imperative” the fleet have five shuttles, and urged that work on a fifth ship start “in the next year or two.”

Fletcher said last week that the country is going to be short of launch capacity by 1992 and “we really ought to have more than four” shuttles. He said the five shuttles will be essential for putting together a planned space station to serve as a permanent manned facility in space for conducting scientific, technological and commercial activities.

Names Task Force

In another step to get the troubled space station program back on track, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Tuesday announced the formation of a task force to review plans to operate the proposed base in space.

It was the second committee named within a month to take a fresh look at the modular station planned for assembly in orbit in 1994.

Andrew Stofan, associate NASA administrator in charge of the space station program, said the new task force will review options and make recommendations for managing and conducting operations aboard the space station.

Stofan named a 35-member task force Aug. 21 to review all aspects of the design of the space station.