14 DAY TRIAL // On Tuesday, April 12, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden finally made the much-anticipated statement regarding the final homes of the three functioning space shuttles. Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor will soon become centerpieces of exhibits at three museums around the United States.
The decision made the recipients of this honor very happy, but disappointed those who had hoped that their museums would also get the chance to house one of the three orbiters in a permanent exhibit.
According to the announcement, Discovery will switch places with the test shuttle Enterprise at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, in Washington DC. The latter will go to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which is located on Pier 86, in Manhattan, New York.
In a predictable decision, one of the shuttles, namely Atlantis, was given to the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spaceport has been the home of the Space Shuttle program for about 30 years, and it only made sense for it to be awarded this honor.
As for Endeavor, the review panel that Bolden led decided to send it to the California Science Center, in Los Angeles, on the US West Coast. These decisions were taken at NASA after months of internal review and analyses, the agency's Administrator said.
But the new decisions disappointed numerous participants in the contest to receive a shuttle, most notably the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), in Houston, Texas, which is the home of the US Astronaut Corps.
“Houston has played a critical role throughout the life of the space shuttle, but it is clear political favors trumped common sense and fairness in the selection of the final locations for the orbiter fleet,” said Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas).
“Like many Texans, I am disappointed with NASA's decision to slight the Johnson Space Center as a permanent home for one of the space shuttle orbiters,” he added in a statement released after Bolden's announcement.
The National Museum of the US Air Force, in Dayton, Ohio, was also one of the favorites in the race, but it too was overlooked, as well as the entire Midwest region. But it will most likely receive what NASA refers to as a “consolation prize,” Bolden said.
The Seattle Museum of Flight, which was also left out of the final decision, has already started constructing a new Space Hall, which will now most likely house a shuttle trainer aircraft.
All 29 museums that participated in the race and submitted proposals to NASA for exhibit centers will receive exhibits related to the Space Shuttle Program, Bolden announced, quoted by Space.