could a retired shuttle be reflown?

In article m,
says...

Question:

It's been mentioned that they removed the SSMEs from all orbiters to be
used for some other pet project.

How much life to these engines still have in them before then need full
major maintenance overhaul ?

They will be used on an expendable launch vehicle, so this is a non-
issue.

And considering that NASA has the full blueprints and engineering for
those engines, how expensive would it be to order some brand spanking
new identical engines ?

NASA is going to develop a cheaper, expendable, version of the SSME, so
this is another non-issue.

You save on all the R&D, tooling, certification etc since you are
working off what is essentially a production engine with proven record.


Or has NASA destroyed the blueprints and told the manufacturer to
recycle the tooling into beer cans and/or steel beams ?

The tooling won't be destroyed, but will instead be adapted to build the
new engines, tanks, and etc. needed for their, mostly expendable, heavy
launch vehicle.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer