Ted Cruz's Bid to Reclaim Space Shuttle Discovery Could Cost $400 Million
President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill, which passed the Senate on Tuesday, includes a provision to move the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Virginia to Space Center Houston. The Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act was added to the Senate's version of the bill as part of an additional $10 billion in funding for NASA.
The bill sets aside $85 million to relocate the Shuttle and build a facility in Houston to house it, but the Smithsonian argues it would cost somewhere between $300 and $400 million to move the massive spacecraft across the country, according to the Houston Business Journal. The Smithsonian also raised concern that the Shuttle could be damaged during the relocation process given the 'extremely complex and difficult' move.
The Discovery Relocation Act was first introduced by Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn in April, calling on NASA and the Smithsonian to develop a plan to relocate Discovery. It provided no less than $5 million to move the Shuttle to its new home, and the remaining $80 million will go toward building its new display facility at Space Center Houston.
Space Center Houston is the official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, home to mission control for the Space Shuttle program. All launches took place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but more than 100 Shuttle missions were managed from Houston. Discovery made its inaugural flight on August 30, 1984, and completed a total of 39 missions over the span of 27 years. Discovery was the first Shuttle to return to flight after both the Challenger and Columbia disasters in 1988 and 2005, respectively, leading recovery missions that breathed new life into the iconic program. Discovery also launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and helped in the assembly of the International Space Station.
For the past 13 years, Discovery has been on display at the Smithsonian. Three other Shuttles are also on display in different parts of the country; Enterprise is at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York; Atlantis is at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; and Endeavor is currently being set up for display at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center in Los Angeles. Considering its long history with spaceflight, Houston feels left out and wants a Shuttle of its own.
After the Shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA selected the museums to display the retired spacecraft. NASA called on museums and science centers across the country to apply to host one of the Shuttles, and its selection criteria were based on national significance, ability to properly house the spacecraft, resources, and geographic distribution. Not everyone was happy, and the agency's process was highly scrutinized.
At the time, 16 members of the Texas delegation wrote a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, referring to the selection process as the 'Houston Shuttle Snub.' However, NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the agency's selection process and found no wrongdoing. 'We found no evidence that the White House, politics, or any other outside force improperly influenced the selection decision,' James Mitzelfeld, OIG investigative counsel, said in a video statement at the time.
The Texans are still not happy, it seems. 'There's no question the Smithsonian is a national treasure, but it doesn't hold all the treasures that America has to show,' Cornyn said during a press conference on June 20, collectSPACE reported. 'It would be nice if there were more to go around, but since there are only four, we are going to get the one that we should have gotten back in 2010.'
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