{"id":168486,"date":"2021-04-27T18:04:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T22:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?migration=converted-node-470452"},"modified":"2023-09-23T09:47:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-23T13:47:13","slug":"50-years-ago-james-fletcher-sworn-in-as-nasa-administrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-james-fletcher-sworn-in-as-nasa-administrator\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Years Ago: James Fletcher Sworn in as NASA Administrator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>James C. Fletcher served as NASA\u2019s fourth and seventh administrator. Fletcher was president of the University of Utah, a position he held since 1964, when on March 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon nominated him for the top position at the space agency to replace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-paine-becomes-nasa-deputy-administrator\/\">Thomas O. Paine<\/a> who resigned the previous September. Since Paine\u2019s resignation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-low-named-acting-nasa-administrator\/\">George M. Low<\/a> served as acting administrator. The Senate confirmed Fletcher\u2019s nomination on March 11, and he was sworn in during a ceremony in the Oval Office on April 27. Fletcher\u2019s greatest accomplishment as administrator until he resigned in 1977 was the development of the space shuttle. He served a second term as administrator between 1986 and 1989 to help NASA recover after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/35-years-ago-remembering-challenger-and-her-crew\/\">Challenger accident<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_1_portrait_s71-31128.jpg\" alt=\"fletcher_1_portrait\" width=\"202\" height=\"260\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_2_swearing_in_apr_27_1971.png\" alt=\"fletcher_2_swearing_in_apr_27_1971\" width=\"377\" height=\"260\"><br> <em>Left: Official portrait of NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher. Right: Fletcher, second from left, sworn in as NASA Administrator at the Oval Office in the White House by Superior Court Judge James A. Belson, right, as President Richard M. Nixon and Fay Fletcher look on. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Jan. 5, 1972, President Nixon directed NASA to develop a reusable space shuttle to reduce the cost of launching payloads into space, Fletcher led NASA during the development of the program during an era of shrinking budgets. By the time he left office, the atmospheric test vehicle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/40-years-ago-space-shuttle-enterprise-rolls-to-the-pad\/\">Enterprise<\/a> had not only finished production but had completed several captive flights atop the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at the Dryden Flight Research Center, now NASA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/location\/armstrong-flight-research-center\/\">Armstrong Flight Research Center<\/a> at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Rockwell International had begun construction of the first orbital vehicle, space shuttle <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/40-years-ago-space-shuttle-columbia-arrives-at-kennedy-space-center\/\">Columbia<\/a>. Fletcher also authorized the twin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/30-years-ago-voyager-2-explores-neptune\/\">Voyager<\/a> spacecraft that not only explored the outer planets but more than 43 years after their launch are now exploring interstellar space. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/45-years-ago-soyuz-and-apollo-launch\/\">Apollo-Soyuz Test Project<\/a>, the first joint American-Russian human spaceflight, took place during his administration, a small step toward future cooperative efforts such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/space-station-20th-sts-71-first-shuttle-mir-docking\/\">Shuttle-Mir<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/space-station-20th-historical-origins-of-iss\/\">International Space Station<\/a> programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_3_w_nixon_and_shuttle_feb_5_1972.jpg\" alt=\"fletcher_3_w_nixon_and_shuttle_feb_5_1972\" width=\"293\" height=\"220\"> <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_4_w_star_trek_tos_cast_and_enterprise_palmdale_sep_17_1976.jpg\" alt=\"fletcher_4_w_star_trek_tos_cast_and_enterprise_palmdale_sep_17_1976\" width=\"295\" height=\"220\"><br> <em>Left: President Richard M. Nixon, left, and NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher discuss the space shuttle, a program the President approved on Jan. 5, 1972. Right: Administrator Fletcher, left, with the cast and creator of the television series Star Trek: The Original Series pose in front of space shuttle Enterprise during its rollout ceremonies at the Rockwell plant in Palmdale, California, on Sep. 17, 1976.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fletcher retired from NASA on May 1, 1977, having served under three presidents. President Ronald W. Reagan called him out of retirement to lead NASA in the wake of the January 1986 Challenger accident. Fletcher served his second term as NASA administrator from May 12, 1986 until April 8, 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To be continued\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>John Uri<br>NASA Johnson Space Center<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James C. Fletcher served as NASA\u2019s fourth and seventh administrator. Fletcher was president of the University of Utah, a position he held since 1964, when on March 1, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon nominated him for the top position at the space agency to replace Thomas O. Paine who resigned the previous September. Since Paine\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":170767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nasa_hds_core_meta_l10n":"en-US","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_editor":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_article_contacts":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_topic":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_linked_locations":[],"nasa_hds_core_meta_article_related_articles":[],"hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_id":"","hds_migrate_meta_pr_release_type":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_x":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_location_y":"","nasa_hds_core_meta_gallery_images":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2671],"news-tags":[],"internal-terms":[12664,11995],"coauthors":[11996],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"50 Years Ago: James Fletcher Sworn in as NASA Administrator","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-james-fletcher-sworn-in-as-nasa-administrator\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-james-fletcher-sworn-in-as-nasa-administrator\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_1_portrait_s71-31128.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_1_portrait_s71-31128.jpg"},"articleSection":"NASA History","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"John Uri"}],"creator":["John Uri"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"NASA","logo":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/themes\/nasa\/assets\/images\/nasa-logo.svg"},"keywords":["NASA History"],"dateCreated":"2021-04-27T22:04:00Z","datePublished":"2021-04-27T22:04:00Z","dateModified":"2023-09-23T13:47:13Z"},"rendered":"<meta name=\"parsely-title\" content=\"50 Years Ago: James Fletcher Sworn in as NASA Administrator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-link\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/history\/50-years-ago-james-fletcher-sworn-in-as-nasa-administrator\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-type\" content=\"post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-image-url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_1_portrait_s71-31128.jpg?w=150&h=150&crop=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-pub-date\" content=\"2021-04-27T22:04:00Z\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-section\" content=\"NASA History\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-tags\" content=\"NASA History\" \/>\n<meta name=\"parsely-author\" content=\"John Uri\" \/>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nasa.gov\/p.js"},"read_time":3,"time_ago":"3 years","featured_image":{"id":170767,"file":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fletcher_1_portrait_s71-31128.jpg","title":"fletcher_1_portrait_s71-31128","alt":"fletcher_1_portrait","caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168486"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518317,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168486\/revisions\/518317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168486"},{"taxonomy":"news-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-tags?post=168486"},{"taxonomy":"internal-terms","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-terms?post=168486"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=168486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}