Now that space shuttle Discovery has returned from its last mission, NASA workers will start getting it ready for its next voyage — to a museum.
NASA is retiring its shuttle fleet this year, and 21 museums across the country are vying for the chance to become a retirement home for one of the iconic space shuttles.
I remember when John Glen’s space capsule toured and was displayed briefly in the State Capitol in Albany, in the same place they displayed the bodies of various touring dead presidents and other similar memorabilia. It would be really cool to visit the Space Shuttle in some museum especially if you got to go inside and sit at the controls and stuff.
The trouble is, NASA has only three spaceships — Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour — and the agency has said it intends to offer Discovery to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. That just leaves Atlantis and Endeavour, both of which are scheduled to fly for one last time this year.
Yeah, they should go for the highest bidder!
Rest of the story here.
If they didn’t “safe” the shuttles so they would still be flight-ready, NASA could get even more money for them. Add in much of the other hardware needed for flight, and the sky’s the limit! (OK, LEO is the limit…)
Put them on plots of land and sell them as houses. I would totally live in a space shuttle.
If you can’t afford a shuttle house, you can always go for a 727 as a house:
http://www.airplanehome.com/