Brian Thorn wrote in
:

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 11:28:36 -0700, "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.

We talked about this a week or two ago. My guess is...

Discovery replaces Enterprise at the National Air & Space Museum's
Udvar-Hazy Center (Dulles Annex).

Enterprise transfered to Edwards AFB / NASA Dryden Flight Research
Center, California.

Atlantis remains at Kennedy Space Center, Florida as centerpiece of a
new Space Shuttle Center similar to the Apollo-Saturn V Center.

Endeavour to Johnson Space Center in Houston.

However, others have reported that it might be very difficult to get
any of the Shuttles to Johnson Space Center due to road and bridge
clearance issues. In that case, Endeavour may wind up at the Air Force
Museum in Dayton, Ohio or Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama.

If the USAF gets an orbiter, it would most likely be Discovery since that
was the one destined for VAFB. As far as I'm concerned, however, the USAF
forfeited any claim to an orbiter when it pulled out of the program.

Regardless of the accessibility of JSC, I still think it's more likely that
Houston will get an orbiter than Dayton or Huntsville. It could be stored
in a hangar at Ellington Field while a permanent building is constructed
for it, the same way that Enterprise was stored at Dulles while Udvar-Hazy
was built.


--
JRF

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