Space shuttle Discovery leaving Air and Space Museum

[cruiserandmax]

I saw that the space shuttle Discovery is now slated to be moved from the National Air & Space museum (Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center) to the NASA JSC Visitor Center: https://www.space.com/space-explora...e-shuttle-discovery-from-smithsonian-to-texas

As a kid I visited the Air & Space museum a a number of times- the most memorable things there for me are the Bell X-1 hanging in the main area, the Sky Lab flight unit that you get to walk through, and the Keith Ferris B-17 mural.

As an adult years later I became super excited to visit the annex museum they built at Dulles. When I visited that for the first time it blew me away!! The collection there was so much larger than the main museum, and it included so many things that I had only ever seen/heard of in media- from the Enola Gay, the actual 707 that Tex Johnson rolled, an SR-71, a Concorde, to Bob Hoover's Shrike Commander. After seing all of that I remember walking into the wing that houses the Shuttle Discovery and becoming weak in the knees as I walked up to it.. I remember standing next to the nose gear and looking up to the cockipt and just marveling at the scale.

We've since returned with kids/friends to both museums over the years- more to the annex since IAD is a hub that we fly though often. We will be sad to see Discovery go!

 

[Baked Potato]

Being local it is also not something I'd like to see happen. It is quite awe inspiring and I will never forget the first time I saw it at Udvar Hazy.

Also seems incredibly complex and costly. In the name of savings we had to fire a bunch of FAA and NOAA employees based on nothing but their hire date but we can afford how many hundreds of millions it will take to move this thing?

 

[Warlock]

This is a payback for when the remaining Shuttle’s were sent out to museums. It got political and that’s why NYC got one after never participating in manned space flight. JSC was given the wooden mock up.

 

[kyleb]

Hats off to NASA, but millions of people visit U/H and the downtown museum every year. They are America's most prominent aviation museums and should have the pick of the litter for display aircraft/spacecraft. A shuttle at JSC will get a fraction of the eyeballs it got at U/H. Very disappointing.

 

[donjohnston]

How do they plan on moving it? The two SCA's were retired almost 15 years ago. The cost of getting another 747 and making the modifications for a single 1,200 mile flight seems wasteful. Not that ever stopped the federal government from doing something.

 

[dmspilot]

I saw that the space shuttle Discovery is now slated to be moved from the National Air & Space museum (Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center) to the NASA JSC Visitor Center: https://www.space.com/space-explora...e-shuttle-discovery-from-smithsonian-to-texas

As a kid I visited the Air & Space museum a a number of times- the most memorable things there for me are the Bell X-1 hanging in the main area, the Sky Lab flight unit that you get to walk through, and the Keith Ferris B-17 mural.

As an adult years later I became super excited to visit the annex museum they built at Dulles. When I visited that for the first time it blew me away!! The collection there was so much larger than the main museum, and it included so many things that I had only ever seen/heard of in media- from the Enola Gay, the actual 707 that Tex Johnson rolled, an SR-71, a Concorde, to Bob Hoover's Shrike Commander. After seing all of that I remember walking into the wing that houses the Shuttle Discovery and becoming weak in the knees as I walked up to it.. I remember standing next to the nose gear and looking up to the cockipt and just marveling at the scale.

We've since returned with kids/friends to both museums over the years- more to the annex since IAD is a hub that we fly though often. We will be sad to see Discovery go!

Smithsonian says they irrevocably OWN Discovery and it's not going anywhere.

 

[Warlock]

Reverse of the way they got it there and then Barge down the Potomac to JSC through the intercostal water way …the very much disputed Shuttle on the Intrepid would be a little easier…

The landing for barge arrival is less then 100 yards from the JSC property and the access roadway has quickly removable light posts just for this possibility…

My wife as a District Director for a local Congressman at the time that the decision was made by a Democrat Administration to put the screws to Texas. She was heavily involved in the process trying to get a real shuttle to JSC. Chuck Schumer was the driving force behind what at the time just seemed like common sense placing shuttles in our national museum and museums that participated in manned space flight.

Putting the Enterprise in a shed on the Intrepid in NYC was pure politics….its just payback time…trying to not make this political just the reality of it.

 

[Warlock]

Hats off to NASA, but millions of people visit U/H and the downtown museum every year. They are America's most prominent aviation museums and should have the pick of the litter for display aircraft/spacecraft. A shuttle at JSC will get a fraction of the eyeballs it got at U/H. Very disappointing.

JSC Space Center Houston receives over more than 1.3 million visitors a year and more than the Intrepid museum…

 

[Warlock]

Also of note the California Science Center who received Endeavor does not even have it on display….future plans…maybe but it’s been along time and word is after 10 years may not happen anytime soon…

 

[Jim K]

I don't think the language passed specifies WHICH "space vehicle", right? Discovery belongs at the Smithsonian IMO. KSC should also have one, and their display of Atlantis is quite breathtaking. Having one on the west coast to balance the two on the east coast makes some sense. That leaves Enterprise.

Personally I think it's a silly waste of money, but the Texas delegation didn't ask me.

 

[Baked Potato]

Smithsonian says they irrevocably OWN Discovery and it's not going anywhere.

I'd bet money it's not actually going to happen. I read in the Houston Chronicle that an estimate made by Smithsonian is almost $400 million if I recall correctly.

NASA no longer has the equipment to lift the shuttle, and the delicate heat tiles make this very operation difficult if damage is to be avoided. And the 747s used to transport these things are all long decommissioned. Plus a display facility is not built yet.

There are better ways to spend $400 million taxpayer dollars now, and I can keep taking my kid to see the shuttle here near DC, so this is my admittedly-biased prognosis

 

[Pugs]

JSC Space Center Houston receives over more than 1.3 million visitors a year and more than the Intrepid museum…

About the same as the Uvdar Hazy center. If they want to move on a barge getting it from Dulles to water will be a significant challenge.

 

[Baked Potato]

About the same as the Uvdar Hazy center. If they want to move on a barge getting it from Dulles to water will be a significant challenge.

I can hardly think of a more significant indignity than this regal craft sitting in traffic on the DC beltway

 

[Brad Z]

How do they plan on moving it? The two SCA's were retired almost 15 years ago. The cost of getting another 747 and making the modifications for a single 1,200 mile flight seems wasteful. Not that ever stopped the federal government from doing something.

I guess the newly acquired Qatari 747 will be getting a roof rack and some tail modifications too?

 

[kyleb]

JSC Space Center Houston receives over more than 1.3 million visitors a year and more than the Intrepid museum…

Yeah, putting a shuttle on Intrepid always seemed to be a questionable decision.

 

[RyanShort1]

This whole thing is ridiculous. I'm beyond disappointed with the Texas delegation for this petty move.

 

[Lindberg]

It would have made more sense to take the one in LA or New York, but that might not have been a big enough f*** you to the DC swamp.

 

[flyingron]

Also of note the California Science Center who received Endeavor does not even have it on display….future plans…maybe but it’s been along time and word is after 10 years may not happen anytime soon…

My wife (who worked at Udvar-Hazy at the time) was at a meeting for air/space museum folks being held at NMUSAF when the destinations were announced. The California Science Center was pretty much a shocker. The AF thought they'd be a shoe-in.

Anyhow, there are a few things to conquer here.

First, all the bill does is provide FUNDING to move the thing. You still have to realize that the ownership of the thing will take more to change. The next is logistics. They'll have to get the remaining carrier back in service (it's already sitting in Houston with a replica shuttle sitting on it). Hopefully the transport will not be as inept as moving Enterprise to the Intrepid.

 

[nauga]

It got political and that’s why NYC got one after never participating in manned space flight.

The one NYC got never participated in manned spaceflight either.

Nauga,
and a little glider time

 

[Bob Noel]

Yeah, putting a shuttle on Intrepid always seemed to be a questionable decision.

Maybe they want to increase the draw to that location

 

[flyingron]

My suggestion was that they should release it from the carrier aircraft (like it did in it's only self flight) and let them land it on the deck of the Intrepid. Probably would have done less damage.

I watched the delivery of Enterprise to Dulles (they had it in a hangar awaiting the construction of Udvar-Hazy, it had all sorts of other things tucked in around it like Mcready's Gossamer thingy), the SR-71 was over in a Quonset hut like hangar adjacent. I also watched the delivery of Discovery and was there on the ramp during the official turnover (when they had both Discovery and Enterprise nose to nose). The one shuttle launch I saw in person was Discovery. Also, years ago right at the end of the LA Worldcon, I took a couple of days extra to drive out to Edwards and watch Discovery land.

When Margy retired, they gave her a small flag souvenir that had flown on Discovery. Checking the date on it, it was the mission I had watched land.

Don't think that the Smithsonian and the Virginia congressional delegation is going to take this lying down.

 

[Lowflynjack]

This whole thing is ridiculous. I'm beyond disappointed with the Texas delegation for this petty move.

I think it's about time. It's a shame that Houston of all places has a fake Space Shuttle!

 

[Baked Potato]

I think it's about time. It's a shame that Houston of all places has a fake Space Shuttle!

Wait, it's just stored in the tie-down parking?

Maybe when they get off of the hangar wait-list then we can talk transfer of the shuttle.

 

[nauga]

Discovery in more exciting times:

The night before the day of:


The day after the night before:


Nauga,
with friends in very high places

 

[flyingron]

Took this on the second to last Discovery launch:

 

[wanttaja]

I didn't think it at the time, but I think Seattle's Museum of Flight got the golden ticket, when shuttles were being passed out.

The MOF didn't get a "real" shuttle, it got the full-fuselage crew trainer:

The big difference is that museum-goers can actually *go inside* the trainer. The interior is completely set up for training, so you can see all the equipment and instrumentation the astronauts had, stand and look out the aft windows at the IUS in the bay. Can't remember if they let you sit in the seats, but they're there with all the panel equipment.

Pretty cool....

Ron Wanttaja

 

[Sierra_Hotel]

Also of note the California Science Center who received Endeavor does not even have it on display….future plans…maybe but it’s been along time and word is after 10 years may not happen anytime soon…

It was on display until 2023, and has already been restacked in a launch configuration for display when the new center opens. It's almost like they're building an entire new museum center around it.

 

[Silvaire]

Also of note the California Science Center who received Endeavor does not even have it on display….future plans…maybe but it’s been along time and word is after 10 years may not happen anytime soon…

The full stack Endeavor is up, it's just being protected during construction of the building. I was in London a couple of years ago and Big Ben was completely enshrouded with scaffolding and tarps but it was still there.

 

[Baked Potato]

I was in London a couple of years ago and Big Ben was completely enshrouded with scaffolding and tarps but it was still there.

But how can you really know for sure?

 

[Groundpounder]

Too bad there isn't a government department that goes after wasteful spending.......oh wait.

 

[Dave Theisen]

David Copperfield made the Statue of Liberty disappear, so who knows what we are supposed to believe.

 

[catmandu]

Should this come to pass, it would be sad to me. My late father, pilot of my avatar, was a docent at Udvar-Hazy, something that gave him great joy late in life. When he was working up his tour routine, I reached out to an acquaintance for a bit of "shuttle trivia" that Dad might be able to include in his tour. His reply:

"When they lifted the Orbiter to mate it to the tank, they had to retract the gear while it was still horizontal. The weight of the gear door made it a little difficult to get it to latch up all the way, so they sometimes had to use a specially certified tool to punch the door up until it clicked. The special tool? A push broom, specifically held for just that job."

Dad used that tidbit on every tour.

 

[Jeff Oslick]

The special tool? A push broom, specifically held for just that job."

Reminds me of the broom stick handle Yeager used to latch the door on the X-1 after he fell off a horse.

 

[Ed Haywood]

Reminds me of the broom stick handle Yeager used to latch the door on the X-1 after he fell off a horse.

Was it TSO, PMA, or STC?

 

[Bob Noel]

Was it TSO, PMA, or STC?

trick question - the aircraft was an experimental

 

[midwestpa24]

Personally I don't have a dog in the fight nor a care where each shuttle ended up. But I don't see why we the taxpayers are having to spend hundreds of millions to move it AGAIN. Texas wants it, hold a fundraiser!

 

[Bell206]

push broom, specifically held for just that job."

Brooms and aviation go way back. Was time they were kept on offshore heliports to assist in keeping the main rotor blades from hitting winglets and the sort on very windy days. Key was to keep the bristle end up.

 

[nauga]

Was it TSO, PMA, or STC?

trick question - the aircraft was an experimental

Public use.

Nauga,
of the desert

 

[Lindberg]

Personally I don't have a dog in the fight nor a care where each shuttle ended up. But I don't see why we the taxpayers are having to spend hundreds of millions to move it AGAIN. Texas wants it, hold a fundraiser!

Did the taxpayers pay to get it where it is now?

 

[Baked Potato]

Did the taxpayers pay to get it where it is now?

It had to go somewhere unless we simply wanted to dismantle a unique national treasure.

Paying twice, after all the support equipment has been long decommissioned, makes no sense. Expensive vanity projects like this are not very becoming right now for a couple of reasons, and especially in that particular state (looking at recent events).