posted 04-10-2025 12:37 PM               

Texas Senators: Move space shuttle Discovery from Smithsonian to Houston

NASA's retired space shuttle Discovery may be removed from the Smithsonian and put on display in Houston, if two lawmakers from Texas get their way.

U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday (April 10) introduced the "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act," which directs NASA to take Discovery from the national collection and its Virginia home of the past 13 years and deliver it to official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center.

posted 04-11-2025 12:52 AM               

Destroying the mate/demate device was not smart. Dismantling it and storing it (for a period of time as long as refurbishing an SCA was feasible), sure, but destroying it immediately, not smart. To eliminate a capability is not a good decision.

posted 04-11-2025 08:22 AM               

This is just posturing and PR; Space Center Houston already has a real 747 SCA with mockup Shuttle Independence mated on top (you can even walk through it). But if they really want to do it, why don't they ask all those nice space tech millionaires to foot the bill to pack up Discovery; ship it overland; construct a new enclosure/building in Houston etc.

posted 04-11-2025 02:48 PM               

I found this excellent compilation of articles and forum threads put together in real time as the shuttle orbiters were being prepared for display and delivered to museums. There may be some pertinent insights contained within.

posted 04-11-2025 07:06 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dtemple:
This needed to be done back in 2011. Seems too late now... Destroying the mate/demate device was not smart.

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posted 04-12-2025 08:05 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dtemple:
Destroying the mate/demate device was not smart.

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The mobile one used during transition and retirement might still be around, but if not they do have the lifting sling at the California Science Center used to lift Endeavour.

posted 04-12-2025 10:43 AM               

NASA 911 no longer has any of its orbiter attachment hardware. New hardware would have to be made. Likewise, the California Science Center scrapped (recycled) the sling and related orbiter attachment hardware after Endeavour's lift was completed. A new sling would need to be made.

The SCA could land at Ellington, as it has in the past, but then it would be an even bigger challenge (and cost) to move Discovery from Ellington to Space Center Houston than it was to move NASA 905, as the latter was partially deconstructed before it was moved.

On the Houston side, it would be better to barge Discovery to Clear Lake and then bring it on shore using the same loading dock that was used for the Saturn V stages. In Chantilly, however, Discovery would need to be transported 30 miles overland before it reached water, a distance more than double Endeavour traveled for three days (and nights) in Los Angeles.

posted 04-15-2025 08:26 AM               

Moving an artifact of that size is always possible given enough money but why do it. The Smithsonian is the right place for an orbiter.

posted 04-15-2025 10:00 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by GACspaceguy:
...move Enterprise.

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The only orbiters Congress has remaining purview over are Atlantis and Discovery. One assumes that Cruz and Cornyn knew they could not make a strong enough argument to favor Houston over Kennedy Space Center, so they were only left with the Smithsonian.

posted 04-15-2025 09:02 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dtemple:
Dismantling it and storing it (for a period of time as long as refurbishing an SCA was feasible), sure, but destroying it immediately, not smart.

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posted 04-17-2025 05:35 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by space1:
Houston has a Saturn V - that's plenty to be proud of.

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posted 04-24-2025 09:34 AM               

FedEx is located in Memphis for a reason. The Kansas Cosmophere would have been a reasonable location for at least one.

Houston is still on the perimeter of the U.S. Space Center Houston has the fiberglass orbiter on top of the 747. Yes, it's not a real one but it is viewable to more people. It is not hermetically sealed inside a building per the retired orbiter contracts.

posted 04-28-2025 12:19 PM               

Still, Pearlman doesn't understand the sudden urge to move Discovery. Houstonians have moved past the snub, and Space Center Houston has a shuttle exhibit that's unlike any other as visitors can go inside.

"Why even do this now?" Pearlman asked. "Any attempt to move Discovery will enter the risk of it being damaged or destroyed, leading to an unimaginable loss for space history."

posted 06-30-2025 12:44 PM               

Relocation of space shuttle Discovery may hinge on 'Big Beautiful Bill'

A political effort to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Space Center Houston has been merged with the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," a major economic and policy package now nearing a vote in the U.S. Senate.

The "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act" first introduced by Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn in April has now been added to the Senate's version of the bill championed by President Donald Trump. While the latter legislation primarily focuses on tax cuts and spending increases, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, chaired by Cruz, added the retired orbiter's relocation as part of an additional $9.995 billion in funding for NASA's programs, including the return of astronauts to the moon and sending humans to Mars.

posted 07-01-2025 10:08 PM               

The bill now heads back to the House of Representatives. As Marcia Smith of Space Policy Online explains:

For the reconciliation bill to go next to the President's desk, it must pass the House with no amendments. If amended, it must go back to the Senate.

Amendments are being proposed to the Rules Committee.

• From Suhas Subramanyam (Democrat, VA-10):

  Strikes a provision requiring the transfer of a space vehicle and funding provided for the purpose of the transfer.

• From George Whitesides (Democrat, CA-27):

  Prohibits the use of funds for the transfer of the Discovery space shuttle out of the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Per Smith, the Speaker of the House is determined to get the bill to the President by July 4.

Although we always warn against trying to guess what Congress will do, it seems unlikely any amendments will make it to the floor for debate.

posted 07-05-2025 10:36 AM               

The Smithsonian Institution owns the Discovery and holds it in trust for the American public. In 2012, NASA transferred “all rights, title, interest and ownership” of the shuttle to the Smithsonian.

posted 07-05-2025 09:53 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by dtemple:
Destroying the mate/demate device was not smart.

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Quibbling over where they were supposed to go should have ended for all time over a decade ago.

posted 07-05-2025 11:01 PM               

The only reason the MDD at Kennedy played a role in the museum deliveries was because the orbiters departed from Florida. Were the vehicles elsewhere, like Enterprise, then the MDDs served no purpose.

NASA used the sling from the mobile lift setup to hoist the orbiters at Dulles Airport, Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. The sling was last used to take Endeavour vertical at the California Science Center, by which time the apparatus belonged to the museum (left over from the LAX delivery) and was discarded.

posted 07-07-2025 11:55 AM               

Texas has a state fund ready to also contribute to the new building, according to a source.