A political effort to remove space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian and place it on display in Texas encountered some pushback.

“In the reconciliation bill, Texas entered $85 million to move the space shuttle from the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, to Texas. Eighty-five million dollars sounds like a lot of money, but it is not nearly what’s necessary for this to be accomplished,” Durbin said.

Citing research by NASA and the Smithsonian, Durbin said that the total was closer to $305 million and that did not include the estimated $178 million needed to build a facility to house and display Discovery once in Houston.

Furthermore, it was unclear if Congress even has the right to remove an artifact, let alone a space shuttle, from the Smithsonian’s collection. The Washington, DC, institution, which serves as a trust instrumentality of the US, maintains that it owns Discovery. The paperwork signed by NASA in 2012 transferred “all rights, interest, title, and ownership” for the spacecraft to the Smithsonian.

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    What was the competition then? I assumed it was a bid.

    “This is not a transfer. It’s a heist,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) during a budget markup hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. “A heist by Texas because they lost a competition 12 years ago.”

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      14·
      3 days ago

      The competition was convincing Obama to send them the shuttle instead of Virginia, by aligning with Obama’s legislative priorities. Again, this was effectively a political gift to Congressmen who supported his budget priorities in '09 and '11. Republicans tried to filibuster everything he advanced to death, so he cut their states out of the Shuttle museum program.

      But now Dems aren’t in the majority anymore. So Republicans are earmarking funds to move the Shuttle to a red state.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.worksOPMEnglish
        4·
        3 days ago

        Blaming Obama, really? lmao

        Museums interested in exhibiting NASA’s space shuttle orbiters after they’re retired in 2010 may need to meet certain requirements set by the space agency on Wednesday, including the ability to underwrite upwards of $40 million in shipping and handling charges.

        The prerequisites, which were outlined in a formal request for information posted on NASA’s website, seek to insure that the orbiters are properly displayed, that they are used to “inspire the American public and students in particular” and if possible do so without burdening NASA with having to pay for the vehicles’ preparation and transfer.

        The fee per shuttle, which NASA estimates today will run $42 million (but cautions that the estimates are subject to change) are not for the vehicle itself, but the work needed before it is suitable for exhibition.

        “It is really not selling the orbiter, it is the preparation,” said NASA spokesman Michael Curie in an interview with collectSPACE, explaining that $28.2 million goes toward “safing” the orbiter, “which is primarily, removing all the hypergolic fuel systems and other environmental hazards from the shuttle,” $8 million for making it ready for display and $5.8 million for ferrying it on NASA’s modified Boeing 747 to an airport near the museum.

        http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-121708a.html