posted 03-11-2011 12:14 PM            

What they have said is that they are "committed to making placement decisions that are determined to be in the best interest of the American taxpayer."

There are two factors that come into play with that statement: which places will allow the most number of visitors (taxpayers) to see the vehicles, and which places will best preserve the vehicles for years to come (thereby preserving the taxpayer's investment).

Visitor numbers and preservation capabilities. That's what it seems like it will come down to.

The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) is obviously the best at both of those. NASM was the most visited of the Smithsonian museums until a couple of years ago when the Natural History Museum beat them out. Their preservation capabilities are world-renowned.

By those standards, though, the Air Force Museum would come in second. They have a solid history of preserving large-scale artifacts that is arguably second only to NASM. According to a press release I saw, they get 1.5 million visitors a year. You simply can't compare that to the KSC or JSC visitor centers. To give you another museum to compare that visitor number to, the Kansas Cosmosphere only hosts 150,000 visitors per year.

posted 03-15-2011 12:40 AM               

Maybe, after Bolden's April 12th announcement, a better map will be possible.

posted 03-16-2011 10:45 AM               

Pick the four locations you expect to get a shuttle, not the locations you wish would get one. One entry per person. Administrator Charlie Bolden is not eligible for the competition. The announcement is set for April 12th, the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle spaceflight. The prize winner will be announced shortly after.

posted 03-25-2011 11:07 AM            

A mixture of confidence, optimism and fear of jinxing their chances keeps Seattle's Museum of Flight employees from discussing the possibility of not receiving one of the much-desired space shuttles NASA is about to retire.

posted 03-25-2011 10:38 PM               

If I had to put money on it, I'd bet on Discovery going to NASM/Udvar-Hazy and Atlantis going to the USAF Museum. Those two seem like no-brainers.

As for Endeavour and the (displaced) Enterprise, I'd predict the former going to KSC and the latter to Seattle.

As a poster above noted, visitor traffic to KSC will undoubtedly decrease somewhat with the end of the Shuttle program, but it's not as though we're going to stop launching rockets from Florida. And KSC will still remain a major tourist draw given its history and its proximity to Disney World. (If NASA PR has any brains at all, they'll already be coordinating cross-promotional programs with Disney.) I assume it would require an expansion of KSC's indoor preservation facilities to host an orbiter, but I have to believe that such an expansion wouldn't be cost-prohibitive.

In Seattle, they're already building a Shuttle-supportable display facility that meets every NASA stipulation, they're attached to an airport with a runway that can accommodate the SCA, and per the agency's desire to make the orbiters as accessible to largest number of visitors as possible, it's a good fit geographically. I can't think of another museum on the West Coast that would even be in the running.

posted 03-27-2011 04:13 AM            

"We just think we’re such a logical choice and we don’t really see ourselves as being in competition with Houston," she said. "We feel we’re close enough to Houston that we’re just basically helping Texas get a Shuttle. I believe our chances are very, very good."

posted 03-27-2011 08:02 AM               

Among those to be represented at the Mutual Concerns of Air and Space Museums Conference are the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, the Seattle-based Museum of Flight, and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum from New York City.

"On the day of the shuttle announcement, Dayton will be the center of the universe with respect to the museums who want, and may get, a shuttle," said Tony Sculimbrene, executive director of the National Aviation Heritage Alliance, a Dayton-based organization lobbying for assignment of a shuttle to the Air Force Museum.

"It will add extraordinary drama to the announcement," said Michael Gessel, vice president of federal programs for the Dayton Development Coalition.

posted 03-27-2011 09:38 AM               

1. A government building that could adequately house and protect the shuttles.
   
2. A museum that already has a large amount of annual visitors and could serve such capacity.
   
3. Locations that would allow good access for all citizens in the US to view the shuttles.

The USAF Museum is the same, has the facilities, expertise, location and draws crowds on a regular basis.

If those two are picked, the locations places two of the three on the central, north coast. I would expect the third could go down to Houston or a more western local. As well Enterprise would be relocated centrally or at one of the space centers. Given the extra hardware and training mockups, some of the space centers could have good alternatives to having one of the three shuttles on display.

posted 03-27-2011 10:52 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by jeffbassett:
The Smithsonian is one ideal place, it has the facilities, is centrally located

---

posted 03-27-2011 01:51 PM            

At the Johnson Space Center, it is clear that the space shuttle program is winding down. Visit historic Mission Control, scene of countless triumphs and heartbreaks, and realize that not only are the Gemini and Apollo programs long gone, but the 30-year space shuttle program is about to vanish as well — with nothing big to take its place.

posted 03-27-2011 05:52 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by Aztecdoug:
I would ponder that the notion of centrally located is a matter of one's perception.

---

posted 03-27-2011 08:51 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by jeffbassett:
Given there are three, geography would have to have some impact on the decision making process. More over the places where there are the highest amounts of people already visiting for aviation/space history has to be a strong point of consideration.

---

Plenty of hotels and foot traffic in both locations. Works for me!

Maybe ship the third off to China to pay down some of our debt for all that money Washington DC borrowed from them too.

posted 03-29-2011 12:09 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by isaacada1:
Robert, any plans to update your article from last August that provides picture gallery of all the possible locations?

---

Museums make final pitch for retired space shuttles as NASA decision nears

With only two weeks remaining before NASA announces where its space shuttles will be retired for public display, museums nationwide are putting forth their final pitches as to why they should be bestowed an orbiter.

Museums in New York and Chicago recently revealed new concepts for their planned exhibits while in Seattle, they're raising their profile by literally raising the walls for a space shuttle-sized gallery.

Elsewhere, astronauts, elected officials, and others with a vested interest in where the shuttles are going are making their voices heard.

posted 03-30-2011 07:53 AM               

The two fallen crew members' spouses took part in a press conference yesterday in Washington, DC, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.

"I represent the legacy of those who were lost and those who are retiring," said Husband-Thompson, whose husband died in Columbia's fiery disintegration during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003.

"Now that the shuttles are being retired, it is time to bring the shuttle home," she said. "One of the shuttles belongs in Houston, where all the astronauts trained and where we lived, and where some of us passed away."

Husband-Thompson, who has remarried since her first husband's death eight years ago, continues to live in the Clear Lake enclave popular with the astronaut corps.

Clark told the Capitol Hill news conference the loss of Columbia and its seven-member crew was "obviously a tragic moment for us all, (but) there was one small bit of consolation in all that — the crew came back to Texas and they came home."

"There's no more fitting place for a flown shuttle to come home to than Houston, Texas," Clark added.

posted 03-31-2011 12:46 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by tegwilym:
Other than Udvar-Hazy, and Dayton, do any of the other contenders have a building in progress to house the orbiter?

---

Since I live in Greater Seattle, yes I would love for my home city to obtain it. The Museum is already getting the training fuselage from Houston.

posted 03-31-2011 05:27 AM               

Actually, I wonder if some of these aircraft could go to some of the museums that did not get a shuttle in the end. (especially those who have started building a faculty or have raised money for the same). These aircraft have history as well. I tell folks all the time that a Shuttle does not launch or land without a Gulfstream in the air. I would hate to see them just cocooned at Pima in Tucson rather than in a museum.

posted 03-31-2011 11:52 AM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by tegwilym:
Other than Udvar-Hazy, and Dayton, do any of the other contenders have a building in progress to house the orbiter?

---

posted 04-06-2011 12:25 PM               

I know there is a request by Houston to bring the shuttle home there. Is that where they are stored, repaired or used for training? Or is KSC where they are kept, and serviced?

posted 04-10-2011 10:07 AM               

Georgians Rallying to "Claim" NASA's Space Shuttle "ATLANTIS To Atlanta!"

Civic, government and business leaders of metro-Atlanta and the State of Georgia are invited to gather with members from Atlanta: City of Peace, Inc. (ACP), a 501c3 nonprofit, and to speak in support of NASA awarding the retired Space Shuttle ATLANTIS to Atlanta. ACP founder John R. Naugle states, "This US National Treasure can serve as a dynamic cornerstone exhibit in the future Global Peace Museum (GPM). City and state leaders are called to boldly join with us as official co-founders, and to unequivocally convince NASA, before their April 12 announcement, that the Global Peace Museum & Atlanta offer THE best use, and destination for ATLANTIS!"

Metro-Atlanta's city of College Park, "Georgia's Global Gateway" has already identified 4-6 prime acres between the world's busiest airport (with almost 100 million annual passengers) and the Georgia International Convention Center. The museum, the airport and convention center, plus the new Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway are ALL connected together with the new ATL Sky Train (connected to Marta at airport) to facilitate 'rivers of visitors' to the future GPM.

Awarding ATLANTIS to the State of Georgia will 'launch' ACP's mission forward to create this new $200 million dollar educational and international tourist attraction, as well as build upon metro-Atlanta's global peace legacy, generate hope and create many new job prospects.

In support of the project are Mayor Jack Longino-City of College Park (land donation) and GA State Representative Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, as well as the indirect support from over one thousand other peace organizations from around the world registered with the International Decade for a Culture of Peace.

"ATLANTIS to Atlanta" is a bold proclamation from leaders of Georgia: The Peace State. The GPM's success adds great honor to Dr. King's globally respected peace legacy. He 'called us higher' referencing the Space Race in his '64 Nobel Peace Prize Speech, plus the MLK Memorial opens on the National Mall in Washington, DC on "I Have A Dream" Anniversary, 08/28/11.

posted 04-11-2011 09:40 PM               

NASA to Hold 30th Anniversary Ceremony at Kennedy Space Center and Announce Permanent Space Shuttle Locations

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will participate in a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Tuesday, April 12 on the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch. During the 1 p.m. EDT ceremony, Bolden and Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana will honor the shuttle work force's dedication, which has made it possible for NASA to take the next steps in exploration and retire the shuttle fleet later this year.

During the ceremony, which will feature an astronaut from the first shuttle mission, Bolden also will name the four institutions that will receive a shuttle orbiter for permanent display. The announcement and ceremony will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

The 1 p.m. ceremony is open to Kennedy employees and will take place outside the hangar for shuttle Atlantis, known as Orbiter Processing Facility-1. Atlantis is being prepared for its upcoming STS-135 mission to the International Space Station, the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program.

posted 04-11-2011 09:43 PM               

Several NASA sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed today that Atlantis is headed to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.