Moving NASA Space Shuttle to Texas from DC Could Damage It, Experts Say
Even in retirement, the space shuttle Discovery exudes power, seen across a hangar crowded with planes and jets at its museum home in Chantilly, Va. Charred and worn from its record 39 missions to space, the stalwart of NASA’s shuttle fleet evokes awe in its one-million-plus visitors every year.But it won’t be there for much longer, perhaps. Discoverythe showpiece of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, may be removed from its retirement home at the hands of perhaps the most unstoppable force in the universe—politics.In October came news reports of White House budget office plans to ship Discovery to Houston, removing it from its Smithsonian home at the behest of powerful Texas lawmakers. Uprooting the spacecraft, the workhorse of the space agency’s shuttle fleet, from...
