Smithsonian Fights Back Against $85 Million Space Shuttle Kipnapping To Texas

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When President Donald Trump signed nan "Big, Beautiful Bill" into rule astatine nan White House connected July 4, he besides group speech $85 cardinal for a Congress-authorized heist of nan Space Shuttle Discovery. The Smithsonian Institution isn't taking this lying down, stating that it maintains afloat ownership of Discovery and nan Shuttle will stay astatine nan National Air and Space Museum. The spacecraft's imaginable kidnapping to Houston faces respective different hurdles, including nan truth that $85 cardinal is not capable to screen half nan measure for nan 1,200-mile move.

After Discovery's status successful 2011, NASA gave nan Space Shuttle to nan National Air and Space Museum. The spacecraft was past flown to Washington Dulles International Airport nan adjacent year. After nan piggyback flight, Discovery was placed astatine nan Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, nan museum's annex conscionable southbound of nan airport, wherever it has been connected show since. However, Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn weren't satisfied pinch nan full-scale Shuttle replica astatine nan Johnson Space Center successful their location state. They wanted a bona fide spacecraft. The duo attempted to push done nan "Bring nan Space Shuttle Home Act" earlier sneaking nan fund allocation into Trump's megabill.

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There are aggregate issues pinch Cruz and Cornyn's plan. First, nan national authorities doesn't ain nan Space Shuttle Discovery. The Smithsonian sent a connection to Congress reiterating that NASA's 2011 statement transferred ownership of nan spacecraft to nan museum's collection, removing nan spacecraft from authorities control. Chris Browne, head of nan Air and Space Museum, told the Washington Business Journal:

"Our position is that nan Discovery is staying correct wherever it is."

Second, nan plan's costs is astronomical. The move to Houston is estimated to costs astatine slightest $300 million, dwarfing nan $85 cardinal budget. It doesn't facet successful that some Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, NASA's brace of extensively modified Boeing 747 planes, person been retired since 2012. The Shuttle can't beryllium surgery down into parts and must beryllium transported intact, making nan move's logistics a nightmare. It's for illustration attempting to rob a slope by stealing nan full vault. Cruz and Cornyn haven't thought this through. NASA isn't successful nan magic business; otherwise, nan Artemis Program would still beryllium connected schedule.