NASA agrees to the Ted Cruz plan to transfer space shuttle to Houston, a battle with Smithsonian

NASA has chosen an unnoticed space to move to Houston, in harmony with a long -term offer by the members of the Senate in Texas to establish a famous vehicle. If the chosen car is a discovery – it is likely that Smithsonian, who includes the car, may be fighting a battle.

The Trump administration included the transfer of the budget settlement bill, signed in the law on July 4, allocating $ 85 million to move and build a new facility in Houston. At that time, the members of the Senate in Texas Ted Cruz and John Corn have had their eyes to discover the space shuttle, which was shown at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Virginia since 2012.

This week, a NASA spokesman stated that the agency official, Sean Duffy, has selected one of the retired shutters that will be shown at the Houston Space Center, without revealing any one, according to what he said. Collectspace. It is not clear why the shuttle identity is blocked or whether NASA has obtained the approval of Smithsonian to transfer the discovery.

“There is no better place for a NASA space shuttle from the city of Space City, and I thank the representative official Duffy for correcting the Obama administration’s mistake and I am looking to welcome this iconic orbit in his right home,” Corn wrote in A. statement.

Cruz and Cornyn first submitted the discovery transfer law in April, called NASA and Samithonian to develop a plan to transfer the discovery. It has saved at least $ 5 million to transfer the shuttle to his new home, with the remaining $ 80 million to build a new show facility at Space Center Houston. On the other hand, Smithsonian argues It costs between $ 300 and 400 million dollars to move the huge spacecraft Throughout the country. It is also concerned that the shuttle will be damaged during the trip to Texas.

In order for the discovery to be transferred, NASA requires the grace of Smithsonian, because the institution has acquired the shuttle from the agency and is now considered its owner. In response to the attempt of the Senate members to transfer the discovery, Smithsonian reaffirmed his ownership of the shuttle in A. statement I read this, “NASA conveyed” all rights, ownership, interest and ownership of “shuttle to Smithsonian”. The shuttle is “part of the mission of the Air and National Space Museum and the basic function as a research facility and a warehouse for the National Air and Space Group,” according to the statement.

There are three other shuttles displayed in different parts of the country: Enterprise at the Intrepid SEA and Air & Space Museum in New York; Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida; Endaavor is currently being prepared for display at the Samuel Ocein Aviation and Space Center in Los Angeles.

Looking at the history of the state for a long time with the shuttle program, Texas feels derived. Houston in particular. في حين تم إطلاق جميع عمليات إطلاق Sace Shuttle من مركز كينيدي للفضاء في فلوريدا ، تمت إدارة أكثر من 100 مهمة من غرفة التحكم في مركز جونسون للفضاء في ناسا في هيوستن. After the shuttle program ended in 2011, NASA chose museums throughout the country to display iconic spacecraft. The agency’s operation was severely criticized, especially by legislators in Texas, who referred to it as “Snub Houston Shuttle”.

Fourteen years later, Texas still shoots this shuttle. The draft law does not define any of the retired vehicles that will be transferred to the Houston Space Center, only that it was transferred to space and carried astronauts to orbit (that is, it is real shuttle and not some absorption). Although NASA is still in Atlantis, the focus appears to be on discovery. “We continue to work on the basis that the shuttle that has been identified is the discovery and the progress of our preparations for its arrival and providing it as a global global home,” said Kisha Bullock, the chief communications and marketing official at the Space Center in a statement, according to Collectspace.

Whether Smithsonian will give up his shuttle still discuss.