Space Shuttle Endeavour in Flight. Photo courtesy of NASA
Source: Houston Chronicle
There are 21 other bids, with some bearing political baggage
WASHINGTON — Houston faces stiff competition from across the country in its bid to permanently display one of the three aging space shuttles that NASA will hand over to institutions following scheduled retirement of the fleet later this year.
The mounting competition for the 76-ton reusable workhorses features 21 bids by rival visitors’ centers, science museums and educational institutions, including those in electoral battlegrounds such as Florida and Ohio and populous Democratic strongholds such as California and New York.
Space Center Houston at Johnson Space Center faces competition from as close as the Austin Planetarium, which has promised NASA $28.8 million to prepare and deliver one of the cherished artifacts of the manned space program.
Austin has also promised to raise additional millions to build climate controlled exhibition space.
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