14 DAY TRIAL // The Independence Space Shuttle replica from the Huston Space Center was vandalized with black paint and racist graffiti reading “Huston we are the problem,” and many more offensive messages that were not released to the press.
From the three remaining space shuttles, this particular one was a gift for Johnson Space Center after the official program was shut down, the other two mock-ups and the actual orbiters are exhibited in museums in Washington, New York, California and Florida. The Independence is one of the mock-ups used to train astronauts, received from the Kennedy Space Center.
The damage done to the aircraft was discovered by an organized tour coming to visit the attraction early in the morning. The tourists were shocked, “to do this is kind of off the wall. It's disgusting,” one of the visitors said.
The bus driver who first saw the graffiti wanted to send a message to whoever did the horrible mischief saying “to the person who did this: you really need to check yourself, because you are making it bad for all other decent people in this town,” according to Daily Mail.
The graffiti targeted racial minorities and other offensive remarks regarding the current situation in the area. The black paint was all over the Independence Space Shuttle replica's mounts and aggressive graffiti covered the sides of the shuttle. The damage was quite big as cleanup crews struggled to remove the work of misbehaved artists.
The perpetrators jumped over a fence and used a ladder to climb on the replica, but luckily for the officials everything is caught on tape. The police released the news that they have the whole incident on footage and will catch the culprits shortly.
The now vandalized shuttle was considered a consolation prize for Huston after other space centers received orbiters that actually went to space. This particular aircraft is scheduled to be displayed outside the center next year.