Fleet of Four Believed Necessary : Panel Votes $2.96 Billion to Build New Space Shuttle

The Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday approved a measure calling for the Pentagon to spend $2.96 billion for a new space shuttle to replace the Challenger, destroyed in the launch accident last January that killed the seven crew members.

The action, taken as the committee approved a $277-billion defense spending bill, was triggered by the senators’ conclusion that a fleet of four shuttles is necessary for the United States to carry out high-priority launches of intelligence satellites and strategic defense experiments while continuing already-planned civilian space missions.

Although the Challenger replacement would operate as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s shuttle fleet, the Senate measure proposes that the new orbiter be used for defense and intelligence missions.

‘A Mixed Blessing’

Testifying before another Senate panel earlier in the day, NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher said that the plan to have the military pay for the new shuttle is “a mixed blessing.”

While welcoming the move to shift the burden of financing the shuttle to the Pentagon, Fletcher took issue with another provision in the defense spending bill that refuses Air Force payments of $556 million to NASA in the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

Those payments were to have reimbursed the civilian space agency for missions flown for the military in the coming year. But, because the shuttles have been grounded since the Challenger tragedy, the payments were suspended.

Fletcher told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on independent agencies, which is considering NASA’s $7.7-billion budget, that the agency will be unable to meet its goal of restoring the remaining three shuttles to flight status in early 1988 unless the $556 million is available next year for modifications and additional safety precautions. Those requirements were mandated by the presidential commission that investigated the accident.

More Flights Paid For

Since 1983, the Air Force has been paying NASA for more flights than it has actually launched. The payment anticipated when the proposed fiscal 1987 budget was sent to Congress was based on plans for eight shuttle missions for the military in 1988. The $2.96 billion in budget authority for the new shuttle would not involve any actual outlays in fiscal 1987.

NASA’s recovery plan expected the shuttle to return to flight status in mid-1987, but the timetable now calls for a launch no earlier than February, 1988. The Administration has announced plans to shift most commercial payloads from the shuttle to unmanned launch vehicles.