Congress’ newly passed federal budget bill includes funds for the transition of the space shuttle “Discovery” from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, to Houston, Texas.
The nearly 900-page bill includes a provision allocating $85 million to transport the spacecraft from its home of 13 years and place it on public exhibition at Space Center Houston. Space Center Houston is the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center and a Smithsonian Affiliate. The provision is part of $10 billion in funding for NASA, however it’s separate from NASA’s budget request.
The legislation allocates at least $5 million to move the shuttle to its new home, with the remaining $80 million set to go toward building a new facility to display the vehicle.
However, the Smithsonian’s estimate to Congress was that it would cost between $300 million and $400 million of taxpayer dollars to move Discovery 1,400 miles across the country.
Discovery made its first flight in 1984 and completed 39 missions before it retired in 2011. The shuttle also launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 and helped in the assembly of the International Space Station, which has been orbiting about 250 miles above Earth for more than two decades. All of Discovery’s launches took place at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Texas representatives were the first to introduce the relocation of Discovery in April, with the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act.”
Texas lawmakers note that because Houston is home to mission control and astronaut training for NASA’s space shuttle program, the region deserves recognition with a space shuttle of its own. Currently, Space Center Houston is home to a replica of the space shuttle Independence, formerly known as Explorer.
The bill requires NASA and the Smithsonian to draft a relocation plan within 90 days, with a relocation deadline of Jan. 4, 2027.
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