JLC Aerospace, 1987

Disher completed two contracts for JLC Aerospace in 1987. The first involved a joint project between JLC Aerospace and the Planning Research Council (PRC) to produce a report on the lessons learned from the space shuttle Challenger accident and their application for the proposed manned space station. The final JLC/PRC report, "Space Station Lessons Learned from Challenger" is included in this subseries. Also included are correspondence between Disher and JLC Aerospace, and a magazine article and NASA documents on the Challenger accident. For Disher's second contract with JLC Aerospace, he served on JLC's Space Advisory Committee (SPAC). This committee produced a paper entitled "An Assessment of U.S. Civil Space Goals," a copy of which is included in this subseries. A large part of this report evaluated three previous reports on the same topic. These are the Ride Report, the Paine Report and the AIAA Report. The Ride Report, entitled "NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space" was a report by astronaut Sally Ride to NASA Administrator James Fletcher. The Paine Report, entitled "Pioneering the Space Frontier" was produced by the National Commission on Space. It is named for Thomas Paine, a former NASA Administrator and member of the Commission. Other notable Commission members included Astronaut Neil Armstrong, former United States Representative to the United Nations Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick and U.S. Air Force General Chuck Yeager. The AIAA report, entitled "U.S. Civil Space Program: An AIAA Assessment," was authored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Copies of all three reports are included in this subseries. Correspondence, handwritten notes and typed comments document the thoughts and opinions of Disher and other SPAC members on the three reports. The Committee also refers to the Collins Report, the final report of the NASA Space Goals Task Force, headed by astronaut Michael Collins. This report, also included in the subseries, is smaller and less detailed than the three mentioned above.