The Nation : NASA Postpones Space Station Contracts

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration unexpectedly postponed the awarding of several billion dollars in contracts for the space station, saying that more information is needed before final selection of the companies that will build the hardware. Space agency officials had expected to award four major contracts within the next few days, but a decision was made to delay the selections for several weeks after NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher met for two days last week with evaluation boards. There was speculation that the contract award was delayed because of efforts to trim the federal budget by another $23 billion. The Reagan Administration asked for $767 million for the project this fiscal year and is expected to request $1.85 billion in fiscal 1989.