After NASA’s Space Shuttles were retired in 2010, they were eventually sent to museums in Florida, California, New York, and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. But Texas Republicans are not happy that the Lone Star state didn’t get one, given its historic significance to space travel. And they’ve introduced legislation to take the space shuttle currently at the Smithsonian and bring it to Houston.
U.S. senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz introduced a new bill on Thursday called the Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act, which would require the space shuttle Discovery to be transferred from the Smithsonian to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Discovery was sent to the Smithsonian because it’s the oldest shuttle that’s still space-worthy, making it invaluable for future research and study.
If the legislation passed, it would require the Smithsonian to come up with a plan for moving the shuttle, and that’s where things get very, very tricky. As the news outlet collectSpace explains, it’s virtually impossible to move the shuttle because the hardware used to relocate the four shuttles back in 2012 was destroyed. One of the modified Boeing 747 jetliners that moved the shuttles to their current homes is sitting in a museum and isn’t flightworthy, while the other would need new engines and a lot of other modification work to make it fit for purpose, according to collectSpace.
Even assuming you successfully flew Discovery to Houston, the work on the ground would present its own problems. Getting the Endeavour from the L.A. International Airport to the California Science Center took three days to cover just 12 miles. Hundreds of trees had to be removed, and while it was quite a spectacle to watch the slow-moving shuttle wind through the city, it was an enormous undertaking.
What about just taking Discovery apart and reassembling it? That would destroy the thermal blankets and tiles, according to collectSpace, some of the many things that make it valuable as an existing flightworthy shuttle for future research and study. And even if it were broken up into smaller pieces, those parts would still be far too large to move through traffic in any normal way.
But none of that seems to be a concern to the Texas senators who are trying to make this happen. Sen. Cornyn complains that Texas wasn’t given one of the shuttles because President Barack Obama was playing politics.
“Houston played a critical role throughout the life of the Space Shuttle program, but it is clear political favors trumped common sense and fairness when the Obama administration blocked the Space City from receiving the recognition it deserves,” Cornyn said in a statement posted online. “I am proud to lead the effort to finally bring Discovery home to Houston, where future generations of Texans and Americans can come to learn about the city’s integral role in our nation’s space shuttle program.”
Incredibly, it doesn’t seem like the two Texas senators even bothered to talk with Space Center Houston before coming up with their idea, according to collectSpace. And while it sounds like the museum directors aren’t opposed to the plan, it does seem extremely odd they wouldn’t have been consulted in advance of such disruptive legislation.
“Home to the Johnson Space Center and its famed Mission Control, Houston has an unparalleled reputation and history in the exploration of the new frontier,” Sen. Cruz said in a statement. “It is past time that the Space Center Houston Museum houses a Space Shuttle, given the unique relationship between the entire program and its support staff in Houston. Bringing the Discovery to its final home will offer hundreds of thousands of visitors each year the opportunity to engage with a living piece of NASA’s history and understand why Houston is known worldwide as ‘Space City.’”
Discovery first launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 30, 1984, and landed from its final mission to the International Space Station on March 9, 2011.
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