NASA's decision to send its final shuttle fleet to locations in Virginia, New York, California, and Florida has irked those in non-coastal states - so much so that one member of Congress has introduced a bill that would deliver one of those shuttles to Texas instead of New York.
The Space Shuttle Retirement Act would throw out NASA's decision and send Endeavour to the Johnson Space Center in Texas, Discovery to Virginia's National Air and Space Museum, Enterprise to the California Science Center, and Atlantis to the Kennedy Space Center.
The measure will "restore common sense and fairness to the Space Shuttle retirement home debate," said bill author Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who is, oddly, from Utah and not Texas, though the bill does have a variety of Texas co-sponsors.
"Instead of relying on political guidance systems, these decisions must be steered by history and logic," Chaffetz said in a statement. "My legislation would designate the retirement home of the three Space Shuttles based on the location and history of the Shuttles' launches, landings, and mission support, the fourth based on the Smithsonian's role in preserving American artifacts."
On Tuesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced that Enterprise will move to New York's Intrepid Museum, Virginia's National Air and Space Museum will get Discovery, Endeavour will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, and Atlantis will stay close to home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex in Florida.
Members of Congress from Texas and Ohio quickly denounced the decision, arguing that Texas—home of NASA Mission Control in Houston—or Dayton's National Air Force Museum in Ohio would make more sense, and allow more Americans to see the shuttles.
"Locating the shuttle in Dayton would provide 60 percent of America's population with access to the shuttle, within a day's drive, and with no admission costs," Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, said in a statement.
Sen. Brown called for a federal investigation into the "flawed selection process."
During a Monday appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which Brown is a member, Bolden denied his decision was politically motivated.
"This process has been as pure as I could make it and free of any political involvement," he said. "I can say it until I'm blue in the face, but there will always be someone who will have the opinion that that was not the case, but the team ... that was put together before I became the administrator has done an absolutely incredible job over the last couple of years, and I would just hate to see their work castigated by someone who assumes they were unduly influenced; they were not."
Speaking of Mission Control, NASA this week named the Mission Control Center after Christoper C. Kraft, Jr., the first U.S. human space mission flight director.
In related news, Space.com reports that United Space Alliance, a NASA contractor, is still pushing for a plan that would use Atlantis and Endeavour as commerical space vehicles after the construction of a new external fuel tank, though that is considered to be quite the long shot.
"We have another shot at it, so we're going to address it one more time," Dan Brandenstein, USA executive vice president and former astronaut, told Space.com here the 27th National Space Symposium.
Whatever happens, NASA will at least be operational this year. The 2011 spending bill passed by Congress ths week provides funds for the agency's authorization bill.
"Among other things, this bill lifts funding restrictions that limited our flexibility to carry out our shared vision for the future," Bolden said in a statement. "With this funding, we will continue to aggressively develop a new heavy lift rocket, multipurpose crew vehicle and commercial capability to transport our astronauts and their supplies on American-made and launched spacecraft."