Contest Urged for New Booster Source
WASHINGTON — More than 200 House members have signed letters urging the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to hold an “open competition” to develop a second source for the solid-fuel booster rockets used to propel the space shuttle into orbit, sources said Wednesday.
The letters are expected to be made public today at a news conference scheduled by several lawmakers. The campaign for signatures was aided by Hercules Inc., a firm that hopes to win a government contract to produce booster rockets in the future.
The rockets now are supplied only by Morton Thiokol Inc.
At NASA, congressional relations chief John F. Murphy said he was aware of the letters, and noted that the agency has “no objections to the concept of a second source. It’s only a money problem.”
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