Sep 3 1986
From The Space Library
NASA Administrator Dr. James C. Fletcher said that the Nation was in need on a fifth orbiter, the funding for which would need to come from private financing. The claim by NASA's advisory council that the United States was approaching second-class status in space, he acknowledged, was "on track". Fletcher made a formal request on September 9, the same day that President Ronald Reagan petitioned Congress for the initial $272 million needed to begin work on a fourth Shuttle. (USA Today, Sep 4/86; NY Times, Sep 9/86; B Sun, Sep 10/86)
Because of the Challenger accident and the absence of any Shuttle activity, NASA was expected to announce layoffs at its Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where 800 to 1,000 employees would lose their jobs. For the same reason, Martin Marietta said that 700 to 800 of its workers would be laid off, by October 3, from its plant that produced Shuttle fuel tanks. (W Post, Sep 4/86; NY Times, Sep 5/86)
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