Wednesday, April 13, 2011

NASA Selects Museums to House Retiring Space Shuttles

On Tuesday, April 12th, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden unveiled the winners in the bidding war to become a home to one of NASA's retiring space shuttles. This came on the the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle flight, Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981; in addition to the 50th anniversary of space flight (the aforementioned Yuri's Night). The winners are:

  • Atlantis will go to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
  • Endeavour will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles
  • Discovery will go to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.  
  • Enterprise will go to the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York 
Two flights still remain before the Space Shuttle Program is officially retired after 30 years. Endeavour STS-134 in late April, and Atlantis STS-135 in late June 2011. Then the shuttles will be transported to their new homes and put on display. I know I plan to go see Discovery once the exhibit opens.

In honor of their 30 years of hard work, NASA has also released this nice infographic: Fun Facts About the Space Shuttle Orbiter


27 comments:

RedHeadRob said...

That was cool! Just because I'm a star trek nerd I'll have to go to the one in New York lol.

LifeHacks said...

That was pretty cool, thanks for the info...love the blog.

Robert said...

I am not really into space stuff. But this info poster of the Orbiter is really nice. Gives me an idea of how much that thing weighs

Biff Tanner said...

Wow that's a lot of miles.

Unknown said...

aww would love to see this

Zombie said...

Why not just keep them flying? They do need to go green after all!

Jay said...

It's good to see them spread out all over the country. :)

Grafted said...

Love the infographic

Meghan Moran said...

It'd be fun to go see one of the last launches.

G said...

great info

Astronomy Pirate said...

Zombie, the main reason is because they have been flying since the 80s, imagine driving the same car and using the same computer for 30 years. They are in drastic need of replacement. The only one that might have a chance at continued flight is Endeavour, which was rolled out in the 90s.

Malkavian said...

cool i wanted to be an Astronomer when young but to much math and physics to endure and i didnt made the cut

Anonymous said...

cool. another reason to visit those museums/space-centers. also thanks for the info on the orbiter.

Unknown said...

I've never really attempted to pay attention or acquire any information on this topic. that is interesting stuff

Tuneroll said...

Hahahaha awesome! Interesting stuff!

Stef Pelgrims said...

wouw :P interesting infograph btw!

Lazy The Kid said...

Last thing we should do...end the space program. Earth will run out of space sooner rather than later.

Anonymous said...

Looks like I'll have to make another trip to the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum.

Jessica Thompson said...

Aw that's really cool, I wanna see some of these!

Alphabeta said...

How many walnuts does it weigh?
That's pretty light.
j/k

; ]

T. Banacek said...

It would make a really cool fort.

Shutterbug said...

it would be cool to check out one of those space museums. I have never been to one...

Anonymous said...

I want to visit at least one of those D:

Living cheap said...

wouw nice!
to bad i dont have a wellknown museum, could have used a spacecraft :O

Melanie said...

SO COOL! I must go see one!

Toto said...

coool!

Aaron M. Gipson said...

I'm really, really sad to see this vehicle mothballed like this...

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