Slashdot Mirror
NASA Announces Final Homes of Shuttle Fleet
PyroMosh writes "NASA administrator Charles Bolden just announced the final homes for the four remaining Space Shuttle Orbiters in a ceremony at Kennedy Space Center today commemorating the 30th anniversary of the first Shuttle launch.
The Shuttle Atlantis will remain at NASA's home of Shuttle Launch operations — Kennedy Space Center.
Endeavour will be displayed at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, just miles from where she was assembled.
Discovery will be moved to the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum in Virginia outside of Washington DC — the very hangar that Enterprise now occupies.
Finally, the Shuttle airframe prototype Enterprise will be moved from her current home to the U.S.S. Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum in New York City."
It's good that we have a museum to put these historic artifacts into, but I would prefer that we have something to replace them with. That feeling is more intense when I see either a Saturn V or a LEM at one of the museums.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
The Enterprise should go to San Fransisco. Future Starfleet Academy Cadets could use it for training & simulations.
What about Dayton? Ohio went to Obama.
All 4 end up on the coast, such a travesty. There was no need for NY to get one considering DC was guarenteed one.
Houston didn't get one because they had little to complement a shuttle, in relation to some of the other sites.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
NASA needs to be given autonomy... they need to be given a long term goal (a generic one like "set up a moon colony as a dry run for a mars colony, then get to Mars", or "set up a mining outpost in the asteroid belt") and then left alone to decide the best way to achieve that. Having every president wanting to leave their mark on outer space like Kenedy did is irresponsible and leaves them with ever changing goals and a rotating set of tools to do the job. We've changed what vehicles they're supposed to be using two or three times now since they declared the end of the space shuttle. At this rate, an American vessel may never lift an astronaut in to space again. That's not even bringing congressional funding issues in to the mix...
The formula since the mid-'70s in almost every Western country has been as follows:
Make service bureaucratic and inefficient -> observe cost increase -> reduce service levels rather than bureaucracy -> observe service level reduction -> announce that partnership with private sector will improve service provision -> observe cost increase -> reduce service levels rather than profits -> observe service level reduction -> announce that government is a failure -> sell off everything -> announce record deficit reduction -> declare that your country is free from the tyranny of government -> end up with no service at all.
Enjoy your corporations.
Richard Allen, the president and chief executive officer of Space Center Houston, wanted to bring a shuttle home.
"The orbiter itself is a national treasure," Allen said. "To be able to house a national treasure anywhere would certainly be a great thing for any organization. It has particular meaning for Houston because of our relationship with the space program."
U.S. Rep. John Culberson (R) said the decision for a shuttle to not be granted to Houston was politically motivated.
"It is sad and unfortunate that politics played such an obvious role in the placement of theses retiring orbiters," Culberson said. "The thought of an orbiter not coming home to rest at Space Center Houston is truly tragic. It is analogous to Detroit without a Model-T, or Florence without a da Vinci."
Houston Mayor Annise Parker (D) also believes the decision to not give Houston a shuttle was all about politics.
"This is certainly disappointing, but not entirely unexpected as the administration has been hinting that Houston would not be a winner in this political competition," Parker said. "I am disappointed for Houston, the Johnson Space Center family and the survivors of the Columbia and Challenger missions who paid the ultimate price for the advancement of space exploration. There was no other city with our history of human space flight or more deserving of a retiring orbiter. It is unfortunate that political calculations have prevailed in the final decision."
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
No kidding. NY shouldn't have gotten one. They are just a stone's throw away from the Smithsonian, and had little to do with the space program. Houston or Huntsville would have been better choices for historic reasons, and Houston or Chicago for most widespread access to the public.
Nonsense. The shuttle were built in Southern California and it's a tribute to those who did it.
I just got back from seeing a Shuttle launch. The KSC visitor center is ATTACHED to KSC, but is privately operated. It's not free.
I haven't been to the center in LA since I was 12, so I can't comment. I just don't remember.
The Smithsonian center in DC is free. I just saw Enterprise earlier this year.
The U.S.S. Intrepid is not free either. I was just there a year ago.
Both KSC and Intrepid are well worth the price of admission, but neither are free. So that certainly wasn't part of the criteria.
I live in NJ, so DC and NYC both an easy trip for me. That said, it seems sort of unfair to have two in such close proximity. I just finished listening to the NASA press conference and all the reporters from the Chicago and Houston areas were livid.
Wright-Patterson thought they might get one too, though I understand why NASA avoided a military museum.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
For the Museum of Flight's new space wing, which is pretty much finished, with an available space for a Shuttle. But instead the museum will be getting a full fuselage Shuttle trainer. In a way this is actually better. The Shuttle can't be touched. However visitors will be able to go inside the trainer. Just as every astronaut who has ever flown the Shuttle has done.
Calling Enterprise "not a space shuttle" depends largely on how you look at it.
When it rolled off the assembly line, NASA had every intention of flying Enterprise in space. She *was* a spacecraft. She only lacked engines (Main Engines, OMS thrusters, and RCS jets), and thermal protection system, and a few minor internal components.
Unfortunately, between Enterprise's completion, and Columbia's completion, some internal structural design changes were made.
It was realized that making the necessary changes to Enterprise would be too costly, so they retrofitted the Shuttle Test Article STA-99 instead. That "not a space shuttle" became Challenger.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
At least the west coast got 1 shuttle and a trainer. The middle of the country got NOTHING.
I think those of us in "fly over country" should stop exporting our food products, use it as leverage to get someone to throw us a frickin' bone once in awhile.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
It's close to DC, sure, but also a massive tourist attraction. Easy access to millions of international tourists is an obvious plus.
But the closest thing LA has to being involved is the fact that it is near Vandenburg AFB, where the shuttle almost launched from
Endeavor was built in LA.
deserved one more than NYC did.
There were many possible locations, and a few shuttles to go around. We need to put these machines where they are going to be seen, not just where we feel they are deserved. This is why the US is so messed up. We think certain people deserve the money, so they get, while people who can put it to good use, like food, are told they don't deserve it. Like the congressman who said $175K is salary is not that much because he had several kids. Somehow he deserved the money, while his constituents did not.
I have been to Space Center Houston several time over the years, since the year it was built. It is a joke. Cape Canaveral is not a joke. I don't the shuttle sitting at space center houston where no one sees it. I don't want some faith based arguments saying if we had the shuttle people would come by and see it. We have artifacts in houston. We have a saturn rocket. We have a capsule. The capsule is hidden where no one can see it. The rocket is hidden where few can see it. We do not leverage what we have, just complain when someone is not going to give us cookies.
I am sad the shuttle is not going to be houston, but am happy they will where many people will see. Many of these people have never seen it before. Being in the area I have seen it launch(closeup) in Florida. I have seen it on transport in wellington. I have seen the astronauts in transit in ellingotn. I have been in the training centers. I am lucky to live where I get ot see all these things.
I know am happy because people who have not been able to see what I have seen can at least see the artifacts. let the rest of country enjoy them in the retirement. I don't even like that Florida has one. Why can't one go the midwest? Let the rest of country see why we live in wonder at the wonderful piece of machinery.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
It all starts when the will to benefit everyone in the long term turns into the will to make short term personal profit at all costs.
If you think even US success thus far is based on the latter, you ought to read the Constitution. The bits about the purpose and nature of copyrights and patents should be particularly enlightening.
And today we have an easily influenced lockstep generation which has been convinced that man is so degenerate that he is unable to be productive without the incentive of shiny trinkets. Are you one of that generation, mangu? Because people will carry on advancing long after that attitude and the empire which now worships it have enjoyed a well-deserved Ozymandian death.
Ah, this will be the first NASA ship that won't be at the Cosmosphere. They have Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Capsules. They have a few Russian capsules (not sure which exactly). They have an actual Titan rocket even. To bad :(
Unstable Apps: Our Android Apps Don't Suck
we never will have an edit button, and I am glad.
The trolling wouldn't only get worse.
Did you look at those maps? Texas is not a 'large volume' of contributions. Per capita is even worse.
Pretty mediocre actually. I would love to see that map for the 60's and 70's. I think Texas would be much more prominent.
Science education in Texas, and elsewhere, are under attack.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I love Udvar-Hazy. My wife and I had our first date there. :) But the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, and the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, AZ are both must-sees too, if you haven't already and are interested in aircraft. If you haven't been to Dayton, imagine Udvar-Hazy 3 times larger... plus two additional hangars for Presidential and Experimental aircraft (Valkyrie, anyone?). Pima is huge and you can walk right up to the aircraft. They also give tours of the military boneyard next door. Air & Space, Air Force, and Pima are the three largest airplane museums in the country, and all three are very much worth visiting.