Space Shuttle Discovery Would Need To Be Dismantled For Planned Move

The Space Shuttle Discovery that flew 39 earth-orbital missions is on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, on Saturday, December 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

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The Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103) would need to be cut into pieces if a planned move to the Johnson Space Center in Texas goes forward, warned the Smithsonian Institution in a letter to congressional leaders this week. The letter was a response to a request from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget for NASA and the Smithsonian to prepare to move the historic spacecraft to Texas within 18 months, and to determine the “actual costs” required to make it happen.

The U.S. space agency and the famed institute have estimated it would cost at a minimum “between $120 and $150 million, exclusive of the cost of building a new exhibit in Houston.”

That is far higher than the $85 million budgeted for transportation and exhibition.

A Major Endeavor For Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery completed a total of 39 missions between 1984 and 2011, spending a combined 365 days in orbit. It hasn’t quite gone to infinity and beyond, but moving it from its current home at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, to Space Center Houston could be more challenging than its trips to space.

Current plans call for the third operational orbiter and the most-flown Space Shuttle to be relocated to Texas, where it would go on display at the Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The move has the support of Texas lawmakers.

“Houston played a critical role throughout the life of the space shuttle program, but it is clear political favors trumped common sense and fairness when the Obama administration blocked the Space City from receiving the recognition it deserves,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) earlier this year.

In July, Cornyn, along with fellow GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, introduced the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act,” which would allocate $85 million to relocate the Space Shuttle to the Lone Star State. The state already houses a shuttle replica on a 747 carrier aircraft.

More Than Money

Beyond the increased costs of moving Space Shuttle Discovery, the Smithsonian Institution warned that the spacecraft would need to be dismantled, something that has never been undertaken. Nor were any of the Space Shuttles even designed to be taken apart.

Each orbital vehicle is covered with extremely delicate ceramic tiles that were developed to withstand the heat of re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Under the tiles are cables and connectors that cannot simply be unplugged or disconnected.

“While an engineering study will be necessary due to the size and weight of the space vehicle, both NASA and the Smithsonian believe that Discovery will have to undergo significant disassembly to be moved,” the letter sent to Appropriations Committee members read.

“Discovery is the most intact shuttle orbiter of the NASA program, and we remain concerned that disassembling the vehicle will destroy its historical value,” the letter added. “We remain concerned about the unprecedented nature of a removal of an object from the national collection, and that we would be causing damage to the most intact orbiter from the Space Shuttle program. In particular, irreparable damage to the Shuttle tiles will occur in disassembly, which were critical to the Shuttle’s unique reusability.”

Not Enough Shuttles To Go Around

The fight for the shuttle has been years in the making, with Texas officials arguing that this is simply correcting a wrong made well over a decade ago, and that Discovery should never have been sent to the Smithsonian in the first place.

The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 had specified that the four Space Shuttles retired from NASA were to be given to states with a “historical relationship with either the launch, flight operations, or processing of the Space Shuttle orbiters or the retrieval of NASA-manned space vehicles, or significant contributions to human space flight.”

However, the Lone Star State was left without one of the Space Shuttles. Instead, Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101), which had been on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center from 2003 to 2011, was relocated to the USS Intrepid Museum in New York City, with the Smithsonian receiving OV-103. The Space Shuttle Atlantis (OV-104) is currently on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island, Florida, and the Space Shuttle Endeavor (OV-105) is located at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California.

Texas lawmakers and other officials expressed disappointment that the Johnson Space Center didn’t receive one of the shuttles. That sentiment was shared by the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (AFB), Ohio.

Texas lawmakers have previously questioned why New York City was given one of the four shuttles, despite making no significant contributions to space exploration and not being home to a NASA center, unlike Houston. That has led to questions being raised about why the Lone Star State hasn’t sought to obtain the Space Shuttle Enterprise instead.

One part of it may be the history that comes with Discovery, whereas Enterprise never even went into orbit. Moreover, Texas officials have argued the federal government still owns Discovery, a point disputed by the Smithsonian, which maintains that ownership was transferred to the National Air and Space Museum.

How It Got There?

Another question worth asking is why the Space Shuttle Discovery can’t be moved without being dismantled. That reason is far simpler.

The shuttle was delivered to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) in April 2012, carried on a modified Boeing 747 from the Kennedy Space Center. During the flight, the aircraft even made a historic flyover of Washington, D.C., passing over the National Mall before landing. After that, the shuttle was towed the short distance to the museum, which is located adjacent to the airport.

None of the original Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) formerly used by NASA remains in operation, and as such, the only option to move the space shuttle is via barge.

That could be significantly more challenging, warned the independent group, Keep the Shuttle, which issued its own independent findings that suggested that if the relocation of Discovery were to go forward.

It found that it would “require a 25+ mile tow through Fairfax County and other parts of Northern Virginia to reach a navigable portion of the Potomac River, at which point the shuttle would be loaded onto a barge for a 2,000+ mile journey to Texas.”

Keep the Shuttle further warned that a move could necessitate the removal of 400 trees, the reinforcement of local roads with steel plating, the removal of hundreds of utility poles, traffic signs, and streetlights. That study was made before the option of dismantling the shuttle was considered, but the outcome is similar.

In its current configuration, the shuttle measures 122 feet in length, 57 feet in height, and has a wingspan of 78 feet. Either it would need to be dismantled or, as Keep the Shuttle indicated, street signs and even trees might need to be cut down.

If Texas is serious about receiving a shuttle, it should speak to New York City, as the Space Shuttle Enterprise is already on the Hudson River, which would make a move by barge a lot easier. Of course, the Big Apple likely won’t be any happier about seeing its prized shuttle going to the Lone Star State.