Space Shuttle Discovery to be Moved to Houston from DC

Astyanax

Under the newly passed “Big Beautiful Bill”, the Space Shuttle Discovery is to be moved from its current home at the Smithsonian in Washington to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for an estimated cost of $300 million.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/02/smithsonian-shuttle-to-texas-in-gop-spending-and-tax-bill/84447730007/

Even though none of the orbiters ever got close to Houston other than maybe flying over it at 200+ miles they believe they deserve one. Johnson was indeed Mission Control and where all the astronauts trained and lived that’s not where the actual hardware was ever kept or maintained. It’s just sugar to get votes for the bill’s passage.

How they’re even going to get it down there is another mystery. I don’t think the SCAs (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) are useable anymore as they’re museum pieces themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Carrier_Aircraft#Retirement

HELLFIRE

Astyanax I don’t think the SCAs (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) are useable anymore as they’re museum pieces themselves.

Short answer : “Nope.”

Long answer : https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/02/space_shuttle_relocation_bill/

… One can be found with a replica Space Shuttle mounted on its back at Space Center Houston, although it has been mostly gutted. The other, at Palmdale in California, is more complete but would require significant work to make it flightworthy. …

ADDENDUM: Maybe Lego can help with that? – https://broadbandbulletin.com/d/3926-black-side-down-lego-style 😆 😆 😆 /snark

Regards

Astyanax

HELLFIRE Hess might be getting a call from the Smithsonian in the next month or two. 🙂

In all seriousness I’d imagine the safest and easiest way to get Discovery to Houston would be to just put it on a barge down the Intercoastal Waterway all the way there. Probably would take several months. It would eventually have to pass it’s old stomping grounds here at KSC and would stop for what would assuredly make for a teary-eyed reunion with the area.

It would be the closest two shuttle orbiters ever got to one another since being decommissioned since we have Atlantis on display here.

MacLeech

Astyanax It would be the closest two shuttle orbiters ever got to one another since being decommissioned since we have Atlantis on display here.

Ummm….🙄
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-041912a.html

Astyanax

MacLeech Enterprise wasn’t real space shuttle so 😝

telcodad

Astyanax How they’re even going to get it down there is another mystery.

Astyanax In all seriousness I’d imagine the safest and easiest way to get Discovery to Houston would be to just put it on a barge down the Intercoastal Waterway all the way there. Probably would take several months.

From: https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/07/05/republican-backed-reconciliation-bill-passes-includes-funding-for-iss-artemis-programs-space-shuttle-relocation/

“We would have to take the Shuttle apart to move it at this point,” said Lori Garver, the former NASA Deputy Administrator under President Barack Obama, wrote on X. “The aircraft transport was decommissioned and it wouldn’t hold up that distance on a barge or highway (bridges/trees/power lines).

Astyanax

telcodad it wouldn’t hold up that distance on a barge

I’d like to know how she could be so certain of that off the top of her head. I think she’s just trying to spoil the initiative as much as possible considering who appointed her; not that I’m a big fan of the idea.

px_eliezer_

Astyanax I’d like to know how she could be so certain of that off the top of her head. I think she’s just trying to spoil the initiative as much as possible considering who appointed her; not that I’m a big fan of the idea.

Still, her view is quite credible.

She knows pretty much everybody in the business, it’s probably been talked about before because Texas has long wanted the shuttle.

Some difficulties—as pointed out in a Texas paper:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/space/article/move-space-shuttle-discovery-houston-20287189.php

Astyanax

px_eliezer_ Still, her view is quite credible.

Sen. Cornyn said NASA told him it could be moved on a regular uncustomized barge.

From your article:

A Cornyn spokesperson said NASA informed their office that Discovery could be moved on a regular barge – nothing custom – and that no one “has been concerned about the shuttle getting damaged.”

Concerns raised in the article though were about the navigability of the waters where the barge would have to go. Even the best spot along the Potomac where Discovery is now seemed dicey.

It’s about 1200 miles to Houston from DC as the crow flies and probably twice that if not more by barge and a lot of that route would be in open ocean. The whole idea is asinine despite Houston being more deserving of getting one of the birds than the likes of L.A. All L.A. did to deserve one was make them in Palmdale. Californians aren’t known for being big space fans or having any space pride. They may have JPL and Vandenberg but no one there thinks of them. Houston should have gotten Endeavour instead of L.A.

px_eliezer_

Astyanax The whole idea is asinine despite Houston being more deserving of getting one of the birds than the likes of L.A.

It’s good that we can agree on this. 🙂

I hope that all goes well but if the craft is damaged there will sure be a lot of finger pointing.

px_eliezer_

Astyanax

In Jules Verne’s 1865 novel “From the Earth to the Moon”, Florida and Texas had a bitter fight about where the rocket would be launched from.

Well, Verne calculated that the best place from which to launch such a shot at the moon would be either Florida or Texas. It would have to be below the 28th parallel. He discusses Brownsville as a possible launch site (interesting that Space X is now locating a launch facility there). Corpus Christi is discussed as a possible site, and so is Galveston Bay. Also, Verne names one site in Florida as an option – “Tampa Town.”

The other accurate prophecy came in the way of politics. Verne has a wonderful section in From the Earth to the Moon on Florida and Texas each flexing their political muscle and persuasion skills to win the business of the space launch.

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/author-jules-verne-prophesied-the-link-between-texas-and-the-moon/

Astyanax

px_eliezer_ In Jules Verne’s 1865 novel “From the Earth to the Moon”, Florida and Texas had a bitter fight about where the rocket would be launched from.

Well, Verne calculated that the best place from which to launch such a shot at the moon would be either Florida or Texas. It would have to be below the 28th parallel. He discusses Brownsville as a possible launch site (interesting that Space X is now locating a launch facility there). Corpus Christi is discussed as a possible site, and so is Galveston Bay. Also, Verne names one site in Florida as an option – “Tampa Town.”

Fascinating considering KSC is indeed on the 28th parallel.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/LAa89qRsXoudBan5A

One thing I didn’t notice was the admission tickets to KSC now are up to $75!! 😲

I remember back when NASA ran it when it was -free-! It was a 20 minute drive from my house at the time when I lived on Merritt Island and I’d go up there just to kill a few hours.

px_eliezer_

Astyanax One thing I didn’t notice was the admission tickets to KSC now are up to $75!!

I was surprised by all of this:

1-Day Adult Ticket—ages 12+ $75.00
1-Day Child Ticket—Ages 3-11 $65.00
1-Day Military Adult Ticket—ages 12+ $70.00
1-Day Military Child Ticket—ages 3-11 $60.00

So even little kids, and even military members, don’t get much of a break.

And parking is extra, as are special launch events.

Astyanax

px_eliezer_

px_eliezer_ So even little kids, and even military members, don’t get much of a break.

And parking is extra, as are special launch events.

October is their slow season so some years they have a residents’ deal. For a few years if you brought a canned good (guess they do come in handy sometimes 😉 ) and showed ID that you were local you could get in for like 20 bucks. Did that few times when we had company visiting.

telcodad

Astyanax Under the newly passed “Big Beautiful Bill”, the Space Shuttle Discovery is to be moved from its current home at the Smithsonian in Washington to the Johnson Space Center in Houston

Then, maybe not:

Smithsonian Fights Back Against $85 Million Space Shuttle Kidnapping To Texas
By Ryan Erik King, Jalopnik - July 18, 2025
https://www.jalopnik.com/1916183/smithsonian-fights-back-against-space-shuttle-kidnapping/

… The Smithsonian Institution isn’t taking this lying down, stating that it maintains full ownership of Discovery and the Shuttle will remain at the National Air and Space Museum. The spacecraft’s potential kidnapping to Houston faces several other hurdles, including the fact that $85 million is not enough to cover half the bill for the 1,200-mile move.

The federal government doesn’t even own Discovery anymore

There are multiple issues with Cruz and Cornyn’s plan. First, the federal government doesn’t own the Space Shuttle Discovery. The Smithsonian sent a message to Congress reiterating that NASA’s 2011 agreement transferred ownership of the spacecraft to the museum’s collection, removing the spacecraft from government control. Chris Browne, director of the Air and Space Museum, told the Washington Business Journal: “Our position is that the Discovery is staying right where it is.” …

broknsymetry

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

I’ve heard of kidnapping, I’ve heard of catnapping, but what’s a “Kipnapping”?

Astyanax

telcodad The federal government doesn’t even own Discovery anymore

There are multiple issues with Cruz and Cornyn’s plan. First, the federal government doesn’t own the Space Shuttle Discovery. The Smithsonian sent a message to Congress reiterating that NASA’s 2011 agreement transferred ownership of the spacecraft to the museum’s collection, removing the spacecraft from government control. Chris Browne, director of the Air and Space Museum, told the Washington Business Journal: “Our position is that the Discovery is staying right where it is.”

…and who funds and established the trust under which the Smithsonian operates and signs your paycheck, Mr. Browne?

Not to defend the idiotic transfer idea though.

telcodad

broknsymetry I’ve heard of kidnapping, I’ve heard of catnapping, but what’s a “Kipnapping”?

Yeah, an obvious typo, I corrected it myself, but it remains in the article’s title. It’s correct in the URL, though.

Dks01

Astyanax who funds and established the trust under which the Smithsonian operates and signs your paycheck, Mr. Browne?

Not whom you might think.

The Smithsonian has two sources of funding—federal appropriations and income generated from gifts, revenue-generating activities, and investments (referred to as Smithsonian “trust funds”). The Smithsonian also has two different categories of employees, “federal” and “trust,” as determined by the source of funds used to pay an employee’s salary. However, the Smithsonian is one legal entity. The various museums and operating units within the Smithsonian have been created in different ways, some by Congress, some by the Board of Regents, but the museums and units (including Smithsonian Enterprises) have no separate, independent legal status: they are all part of the same legal “whole,” the Smithsonian Institution.

https://www.si.edu/ogc/legalhistory#:~:text=The%20Smithsonian%20Institution%20is%20a,under%20the%20name%20of%20the

Astyanax

Dks01 Not whom you might think.

Yes it is. The trust was formed by an act of Congress and are also subject to any other acts if they so choose. An act of Congress created the trust of the Smithsonian and another one just yanked Discovery out of it’s collection. Power of the People.

Take a look at who consists of the Board of Regents:

The Board of Regents now has seventeen members: the Chief Justice, the Vice President, three members of the Senate, three members of the House of Representatives, and nine citizen members appointed by Joint Resolution of Congress.

Why do you think they chose to take Discovery? Because Atlantis and Endeavour are indisputably in private ownership now.