- Museum of Flight
- The new Space Gallery
Everything retires—even space shuttles. U.S. Space Shuttles Atlantis, Endeavour, and Enterprise are looking for new homes, and Seattle’s Museum of Flight has applied to NASA to bring one of them to us. In fact, the museum is breaking ground on a $12 million glass building next to Boeing Field next week, although there is no guarantee that NASA will pick Jet City as the shuttle’s tomb. The Seattle City Council passed a resolution Monday asking NASA to transfer one of the space shuttles to the museum, citing Boeing’s legacy in the advancement of space flight, among other things. The resolution is part of a collaboration with the state of Washington, King County, and the Museum of Flight. “We are pleased to encourage NASA to place one of the retired shuttles in our community,” said Council President Richard Conlin. “With our tremendous aviation history, we believe there is no place better to house one of NASA’s most valuable assets.”
Does NASA still want $28.8 million for the thing?
aw.. where’d the page go?
Maybe we can trade the Kalakala for it. Like “cash for clunkers”?
If any of you like this idea there’s already a facebook group about it: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1…
FYI – It’s just “The Museum of Flight”, it’s not owned or operated by Boeing.
!!!
Will we be able to go on tours on it??
So, how long until the Pixar movie about a “gang of 12 year olds who break into the Space Shuttle to save the Earth!”
Do they have to give the robot arm back to Canada first?
Museum of Flight is something of a long shot IMO, as the competition is going to be pretty fierce, especially with Discovery already promised to the Smithsonian, which will most likely give up Enterprise, already on display, to another museum. NASA’s Houston Space Center is also probably going to get one, which leaves the remaining two up for grabs.
San Diego Air & Space Museum is also in the running, and since it’s highly unlikely both remaining orbiters will go to West Coast facilities (NASA is going to want to spread them out for maximum accessibility), I give it the edge due to its proximity to a much larger population base in SoCal, as well as for being the closest major air & space museum to the old North American Rockwell plant (now owned by Boeing) in Palmdale, CA where the orbiters were constructed. So, with one already in the Northeast, and one probably in the mid-South, my guess San Diego for one, with the final orbiter going either to the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, OH, or possibly the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, which would be something of a compromise nod to Florida, since ironically, I don’t believe Kennedy Space Center is even in the running.
@9: Doesn’t Kennedy Space Center have the mockups, though?
The Space Shuttle Enterprise should at least have the decency to be self-destructed rather than sit in a museum like a chump.
The best would be if William Shatner gave the final countdown.
Cool. I hope the museum gets one. If not maybe the museum can get a simulator like the kind that are used at the Space Camps. Those were really fun when I was a little kid.
ridiculous that they’d even make an attempt. Next time you visit the museum, look at the planes out in the rain rotting into the ground. Look at the B-17, B-29 and other planes that have been displaced by the demolition of Plant 2. This is just another right-wing propoganda sunshine pumping operation in futility.
@10:
True, KSC does have Explorer, a full-scale mock-up, but from what I understand it’s not a terribly accurate replica, so there’s little consolation in that.
@13:
One of the prerequisites for even bidding on a shuttle is that the museum has to provide an indoor, climate-controlled facility to store it, as well as budget for ongoing maintenance, hence MoF’s push to build the annex, which I presume they believe gives them a bit of an edge in the competition.
In any case, even if they don’t receive an orbiter, the addition of the new Space Gallery will allow them to move space-related displays out of the main gallery, thus making room to get some of those other venerable birds you mention out of the weather.
@14 let’s use it to store Chihulhy glass in.
@14:
Only if the shuttle’s OMS engines are still working and tanked up…
@16 Cha-ching! 🙂
Bah! The only person wanting to get the Shuttle is the old museum CEO, the lunatic ex-astronaut Dunbar. The money should be put to better use by building a cover for the great Boeing planes.
Bah! The only person wanting to get the Shuttle is the old museum CEO, the lunatic ex-astronaut Dunbar. The money should be put to better use by building a cover for the great Boeing planes.