Space Shuttle Discovery to be Moved to Houston from DC

Astyanax · 2025-07-04T17:01:18+00:00

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

Dks01

Astyanax I see a court fight ahead. The lawyers win, as always. Hard to see the sledgehammer being taken to the US right now.

px_eliezer_

Astyanax 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.

The Chief Justice will try to be neutral.

The six members from the House and Senate are evenly split between the parties.

The nine citizen members are a very high-powered group:
https://www.si.edu/regents/members

So nothing should be taken for granted.

Like the Schrodinger Cat, the Smithsonian Institution is sometimes a Federal agency, and sometimes not.

The Smithsonian Institution is considered unique in the Federal establishment. The Smithsonian is not an executive branch agency and does not exercise regulatory powers, except over its own buildings and grounds. Thus, courts have held that the Smithsonian is not an agency or authority of the Government.

However, the U.S. Attorney General has concluded that the Smithsonian is so “closely connected” to the federal government that it shares the immunity of the United States from state and local regulation.

https://library.indianastate.edu/c.php?g=1363936&p=10180063

Astyanax

px_eliezer_ Like the Schrodinger Cat, the Smithsonian Institution is sometimes a Federal agency, and sometimes not.

Federal enough for the Texas senators. 😉

Astyanax

Dks01 I see a court fight ahead.

I can’t imagine what legal argument he has. He’s fighting an act of Congress not some whimsical Presidential executive order.

BTW:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/scattered/6974030966/

zapman987

This is going to come down to a finance problem. 85million isnt enough. Ive seen back of napkin estimates of 2-3hundred million, and theres estimates it maybe upto 1billion to make this happen.

px_eliezer_

Astyanax

Citing research by NASA and the Smithsonian, (Senator Durbin of Illinois) 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.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/07/its-a-heist-senator-calls-out-texas-for-trying-to-steal-shuttle-from-smithsonian/

This is all part of a larger picture as various entities which are federally-related but which have always had some autonomy, are fighting for their lives.

Another example would be the United States Institute of Peace, yet another is the Federal Reserve.

Astyanax

px_eliezer_ This is all part of a larger picture as various entities which are federally-related but which have always had some autonomy, are fighting for their lives.

Another example would be the United States Institute of Peace, yet another is the Federal Reserve.

Durbin along with the rest of his party’s members are just doing the only thing they can do: pound the table. He’s retiring anyway but any replacement I’m sure won’t change much.

On the bright side though that paltry amount of $85 million might be indicative of the Texas senators not totally warmed up to the idea either. They’re just catering to some special interest knowing it will accomplish nothing yet they can say they got it for them but the costs overran and it turned out not to be feasible, etc so they can’t be blamed for not getting it there.

px_eliezer_

Astyanax They’re just catering to some special interest knowing it will accomplish nothing yet they can say they got it for them but the costs overran and it turned out not to be feasible, etc so they can’t be blamed for not getting it there.

Cynical but accurate. 🙂

HELLFIRE

https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/02/dismantling_discovery/ – Smithsonian warns that dismantling orbiter for relocation is history in the wrecking

… The White House Office of Management and Budget asked NASA and the Smithsonian Institution and the response was to dismantle it. The space agency and research institute estimate “that the cost to move Discovery to Houston would, at minimum, be between $120 million and $150 million, exclusive of the cost of building a new exhibit in Houston;” this is considerably more than the $85 million budgeted for transportation and exhibition construction … unfortunately, doing so may require disassembling the Space Shuttle. …

Regards

Astyanax

HELLFIRE

If they absolutely gotta move it there they can do it without “chopping it up”. The chopping it up bit is just alarmist hyperbole by critics to get them into thinking it’s impossible. I’m sure it’ll cost more than the $85 million allocated but for the $120-$150 million they could indeed refurbish one of those SCAs and fly it down there the same way they got it to DC. It may take a little longer than they wanted but it’ll work. I’d rather they gave in to that than started chopping it up.

Again I’m no fan of this idea either though.

px_eliezer_

HELLFIRE

That article says:

The US reconciliation bill, signed into law on July 4, includes a requirement to move a flown space vehicle to Houston, Texas.

Does NOT have to the the shuttle, they can grab something else.

Could even be an old Mercury/Gemini/Apollo capsule, various ones from all those programs still exist.

Would serve the Texians right.

Boy would THEY be surprised opening up the big box expecting a shuttle, and getting a Mercury capsule (rest of box would be bubble wrap).

When Senator Cruz complains about the smaller craft, response would be “Carrying Charges, my boy. Carrying Charges.”.

paulsweet

I remember visiting NASA in Houston in the late 60s when I was in college. They had an Apollo capsule on display that looked pretty well charred from re-entry on the outside.

HELLFIRE

https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/cornyn-cruz-urge-preservation-of-funds-to-move-space-shuttle-discovery-debunk-smithsonians-lies/ – Cornyn, Cruz Urge Preservation of Funds to Move Space Shuttle Discovery, Debunk Smithsonian’s Lies

… The Smithsonian Institution has actively worked to block this legislation, taking deliberate steps to oppose both its passage and implementation. … As part of its opposition effort, the Smithsonian has disseminated misinformation about the logistics of the move, falsely claiming that the shuttle’s wings would need to be removed for transport, a claim not supported by industry experts. Furthermore, we also have serious concerns about the credibility of the cost estimates they have provided, which are more than ten times higher than quotes from experienced private-sector logistics firms. These actions raise serious ethical and legal questions, particularly given that the Smithsonian is a federal government entity. …

So do tell me, exactly WHICH “industry experts” did these two Senators contact regarding the wings, and WHO are these “experienced private-sector logistics firms” quoting these prices? TOTALLY asking for a friend here… 🙄 🙄

Picked this up from here – https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/08/senators_smithsonian_discovery/ – which breaks down for Joe Average about the logistics side :

… Transportation by road is not viable … During the program’s lifetime, the Space Shuttles were transported atop converted Boeing 747s, however … The final option is to transport the orbiter by barge …

A REALLY off the wall idea is to get a USN carrier in place of the barge, akin to this – https://www.wearethemighty.com/military-life/see-the-navy-haul-its-crews-vehicles-on-the-uss-ronald-reagan/

… For one brief coastal cruise, the Ronald Reagan became a $5 billion, nuclear-powered car carrier. The sailors saved money, the Navy didn’t have to pay contractors to move the vehicles, and we got some cool photos out of the deal; that’s a win-win-win all around. …

Otherwise, to quote Sergeant Hartman, “I didn’t know they stacked s**t that high in Texas!”

/sarcasm

Regards

HELLFIRE

FWIW : https://www.nasa.gov/reference/the-space-shuttle/

Orbiter Stats
Height (on runway)
57 feet
Length
122 feet
Wingspan
78 feet
Midfuselage
Length: 60 feet
Width: 17 feet
Height: 13 feet
Aft Fuselage
Length: 18 feet
Width: 22 feet
Height: 20 feet
Payload Bay Doors
Length: 60 feet
Diameter: 15 feet
Width: 22.67 feet
Surface: 1,600 feet2

You choose the road option

you got any bridges and/or tunnels higher than 57feet?
you got streets wider than 78feet?
you got a roadbed able to take the weight of a (nearly) empty orbiter?
how many 90degree+ turns do you have between your origin and destination?
what inclement weather do you have to plan for during your trip, and how will your cargo handle it – Columbia and the thermal tiles are case in point of this.

SOMEone wants to take on the job of a latenight brainstorm over whatever to make this work, all the power to them, but this has “boondoggle” written all over it…

My Cynical 00000010bits

Regards

HELLFIRE

HELLFIRE experienced private-sector logistics firms

…wonder if one of those firms was Drax Industries… 🙄 🙄

Regards

Astyanax

HELLFIRE … Transportation by road is not viable … During the program’s lifetime, the Space Shuttles were transported atop converted Boeing 747s, however … The final option is to transport the orbiter by barge …

A REALLY off the wall idea is to get a USN carrier in place of the barge, akin to this – ![](https://www.wearethemighty.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cropped-WATM_Icon.png?quality=85&w=32) See the Navy haul its crew’s vehicles on the USS Ronald Reagan

The museum where Discovery is currently housed is right next to the 6-lane Dulles Toll Road and is only about 10 miles south of the Potomac. If they really wanted to do this they could make an ad-hoc dock and put it on a barge and float it down to Houston.

InternetJeff

Astyanax If they really wanted to do this they could make an ad-hoc dock and put it on a barge and float it down to Houston.

Yeah, a lot of drama over nothing.

MacLeech

Astyanax The museum where Discovery is currently housed

Is just south of Washington Dulles airport with a private road to the museum. It’s how they got the majority of aircraft including the Space Shuttle to the museum to begin with. The Shuttle is even in the northwest display hanger closest to the apron and road. It ALMOST as simple as opening the doors, clearing the displays behind it, and tugging it out. Of course it needs more prep work for the journey but no disassembly is required.

Let’s see how fast they can pull the Shuttle carrier aircraft out of display in Palmdale at the edge of Plant 42 and refurbish/replace any parts taken from it for the SOFIA telescope aircraft. It’s only on loan and NASA still owns it. That carrier plane is also near a runway at the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark in Palmdale, CA a relatively short access road away.
https://www.cityofpalmdaleca.gov/205/Joe-Davies-Heritage-Airpark

The Shuttle Carrier at Johnson Space Center had to be disassembled and reassembled to move it there.

That will be the big issue, getting the shuttle to space center from the airport.

Astyanax

paulsweet They had an Apollo capsule on display that looked pretty well charred from re-entry on the outside.

The Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia has been on display at the National Air and Space Museum for decades.

https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/command-module-apollo-11/nasm_A19700102000

Astyanax

MacLeech

I was still tearing up a bit looking back at this photo from April 17, 2012 looking at Discovery’s last flight leaving it’s home never to return. They did a good-bye pass over Patrick AFB here right by my house.

Both Discovery and the rest of the shuttle fleet and I virtually grew up together here. 😪

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