Podesta made the request in response to an inquiry by President Clinton. The resulting paper was drawn up and presented to Podesta late Thursday afternoon in the White House, according to USAF Lt. Col. Betsy Pimentel. Pimentel is on assignment to the National Security Council and is assigned space issues for the White House, she told a seminar at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute.

Pimentel said the paper summerized the failures of the Titan IVB, Athena, and Delta III that have occured over the past week. The chronology listed the currently known causes, lost payloads, and current projection of the effects, if any, on U.S. national security space launches and commercial launch schedules, the Colonel said.

The senior White House national security officials were much more interested in space matters at present than was the case earlier in the administration, Pimentel added.

Of course, that hasn't yet translated into higher budget requests for either NASA or the Pentagon's space programs, although several Washington sources believe that Clinton's FY2001 budget, which will be drafted next fall, may boost space spending in both areas.