WASHINGTON — NASA has selected a shuttle orbiter to transfer to Houston, a move that faces logistical, fiscal and legal challenges.
A provision of the budget reconciliation bill signed into law July 4 included $85 million for a “space vehicle transfer.” The space vehicle in question was defined in the bill as one that has flown in space and carried astronauts. The transfer would be to a NASA center involved in the commercial crew program, which would place the vehicle on display at an entity somewhere in the center’s metropolitan area.
While language in the bill was open to interpretation, the provision was intended by its proponents, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), to enable a transfer of the shuttle Discovery, currently on display at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center outside Washington, to Space Center Houston, adjacent to the Johnson Space Center.
“Houston has long been the cornerstone of our nation’s human space exploration program, and it’s overdue for Space City to receive the recognition it deserves by bringing the Space Shuttle Discovery home,” Cornyn said in a July 15 statement. “I am glad to see this provision become law as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill and look forward to welcoming Discovery to Houston and righting this egregious wrong.”
The bill included language requiring the NASA administrator to formally identify the vehicle to be transferred no later than 30 days after the bill’s enactment, or Aug. 3. NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said Aug. 5 that the agency’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, had done so.
“The acting Administrator has made an identification. We have no further public statement at this time,” she said in a statement to SpaceNews. She confirmed that NASA was not naming the vehicle it selected or its destination.
About an hour later, though, the office of Sen. Cornyn issued a statement stating that NASA had selected a shuttle to go to Houston. “There is no better place for one of NASA’s space shuttles to be displayed than Space City, and I thank Acting Administrator Duffy for rectifying the Obama Administration’s error and look forward to welcoming this iconic orbiter to its rightful home,” Cornyn said in the statement.
That statement did not name the shuttle selected, although the release noted that “Congressional intent of the law makes clear that this is aimed at the movement of Space Shuttle Discovery.”
Cornyn and Cruz introduced a separate bill in April specifically directing the move of Discovery from the National Air and Space Museum to Space Center Houston. Cornyn claimed in a statement then that “clear political favors trumped common sense and fairness when the Obama administration blocked the Space City from receiving the recognition it deserves.”
That allegation, though, is not supported by a review of the selection process performed by NASA’s Office of Inspector General in 2011. “We found no evidence that the Team’s recommendation or the Administrator’s decision were tainted by political influence or any other improper consideration,” the office’s report concluded, adding that the site selection process “was consistent with applicable Federal law.”
Even if NASA has selected Discovery for transfer to Houston, the move faces several hurdles. One is that the shuttle may no longer be NASA’s to transfer: the Smithsonian Institution, which operates the National Air and Space Museum, has noted that it took ownership of Discovery when it arrived at the museum in 2012 under its agreement with NASA.
There are also challenges in moving the shuttle. The modified Boeing 747 aircraft used to ferry the shuttles across the country have been decommissioned; one is one permanent display outside Space Center Houston, with a replica shuttle orbiter mounted on top of it. Alternatives involving land and/or sea transportation would be required.
The budget reconciliation bill states that at least $5 million of the $85 million for the vehicle transfer would be used for moving the vehicle. A July 24 report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) stated that the cost to move Discovery would be $50-55 million, while an unnamed private company “with experience in moving large vehicles” offered an initial estimate of $8 million.
The remainder of the $85 million would go towards building a facility to host the orbiter. The CRS report stated that the Smithsonian estimates the cost of such a facility to run as high as $325 million.