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17h ago

Smithsonian Challenges $85 Million Plan to Move Space Shuttle Discovery

The museum argues that no federal body can override its permanent ownership of the orbiter as senators debate cost, legality and logistics.

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Space Shuttle Discovery in Virginia

Overview

  • President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on July 4 directing $85 million to relocate Discovery from the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
  • The Smithsonian asserts it received full title to Discovery in NASA’s 2012 transfer and has formally challenged Congress’s authority to reassign the spacecraft.
  • At a July 11 Senate hearing, Senator Dick Durbin introduced and then withdrew an amendment to block the move, decrying the effort as wasteful.
  • Senator John Cornyn and Senator Ted Cruz have championed the shuttle’s return to Houston to honor the city’s spaceflight heritage, but Senator Tim Kaine condemned the allocation when social programs faced cuts elsewhere.
  • Transport logistics remain unresolved, with the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft retired on static display and independent estimates placing combined moving and facility costs above $480 million.