Herb Schaltegger wrote:
On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 15:20:56 -0500, ed kyle wrote
(in article .com):

Braxus wrote:
When they do retire the shuttle fleet whether sooner or later, what is to
happen to the shuttles at that point? I can't see them all ending up at the
Smithsonian, so have they have plans to place them somewhere? I can imagine
one may stay at Kennedy and one in Houston.

I would like to see one in the Smithsonian, and the
others stripped of engines and offered for sale at
auction to the highest bidder, with the money going
back to the taxpayers.

But it won't happen because the low winning bid
totals might be embarrassing.

- Ed Kyle


Embarrassing why? What do you think is the fair market of an orbiter
stripped of engines? And why would someone want one without engines?
Or with engines for that matter? The FMV of a 25 year old airframe is
usually determined by the scrap metal buyers at the boneyard anyway.
:-/

The orbiters might be worth something as tourist
attractions - or maybe as props on the wall of one
of those theme restaurants (I saw a biplane tied to
the ceiling of one such place - an interesting
conversation piece, but the food was less than
memorable). Maybe they could *be* restaurants,
the way that old trollys were turned into diners.
Or maybe someone could try cutting them into
small pieces that could be sold off for profit.
(I own a piece of the Explorer 1 service tower
that was chopped up that way). Or maybe they
could be used to carry passengers on really fast,
short glider rides.

- Ed Kyle