January 5, 1972 - Nixon and NASA Announce Space Shuttle Program
President Nixon and NASA Administrator James Fletcher announce the development of a space shuttle program. In a statement, Nixon declares that the space shuttle program would "help transform the space frontier of the 1970's into familiar territory, easily accessible for human endeavor in the 1980's and '90's" and "revolutionize transportation into near space, by routinizing it."
Related resources:
- Nixon's 1972 Announcement of Space Shuttle Program (NASA)
- NASA History Division (NASA)
- Audio: Lost in Space: What is the future for NASA? (Justice Talking)
