POLL: Where Should NASA Display Retired Space Shuttles?

POLL: Where Should NASA Display Retired Space Shuttles?

  • NASA Should Keep 'Em! The shuttles should be displayed at the space centers that flew or hosted the

    Votes: 17 47.2%
  • The People's Space Planes: NASA's three flown space shuttles should be distributed to the most popul

    Votes: 8 22.2%
  • A Museum…in Space! The space shuttles should be displayed in orbit and on the moon in the world's fi

    Votes: 11 30.6%

  • Total voters
    36
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D

doublehelix

Guest
NASA's space shuttle program is winding down.

On Sept. 20, the shuttle Discovery made its last trip to the launch pad for the first of NASA's last two shuttle missions. In 2011, after nearly 30 years of spaceflight, the shuttle program will be over.

But where should NASA's three orbital space shuttles be displayed? A museum? A huge city? In Space?

Vote for the ultimate retirement home for the world's only reusable winged spacecraft ever to launch people into orbit.

More stories:
Space Shuttle Discovery Takes One Last Trip to Launch Pad
NASA Delays Deciding Where Retired Space Shuttles Will Be Displayed
Hoping for Space Shuttle, Seattle Museum Begins New Exhibit
What Will NASA Do With the Retired Space Shuttles?
Final Countdown: A Guide to NASA's Last Space Shuttle Missions
Images - The First 100 Space Shuttle Flights
Click here to see photos of Discovery's launch pad rollout by Robert Pearlman of collectSPACE.com.
 
A

admiralpellaeon

Guest
They should be displayed all around the USA. Perhaps in five year increments to competing museums. Maybe we can pack up all those fools in DC who don't care about our future into the cargo bay of a shuttle and have a grand-send off into the Sun. I can live with only two remaining orbiters for future generations to observe. :D
 
S

sylvelle

Guest
I think the poll is incomplete. Too bad there are so few shuttles. Other than the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, shuttles should be placed in other air museums. Maybe spaced as evenly as possible across the nation giving more accessability to people.

Myself I'd like to see one as Castle Air Museum, Atwater, California.. It could book-end the SR-71.
 
J

jerrycobbs

Guest
There should be a "none of the above" category--none of these get my vote, I'm afraid. The third one is just wildly impractical for myriad reasons.

Personally, I like both of admiralpellaeon's suggestions...
 
E

erhoads

Guest
I want to say IUPUI's campus but that is because I teach here so a slight bias...
 
B

BlairJ

Guest
One shuttle should be loaded with space memorabilia and sent into an orbit around the sun that will bring it back to the vicinity of earth in one thousand years. If there are still any humans left, and if they are still able to access space, they will expect its return and will be able to retrieve it.
 
P

postman1

Guest
Canaveral, Houston, and Edwards sound good to me and pretty evenly spaced across the country. While I hope we can keep the shuttles on display, I hope we don't spend too much time looking back. Forward and upward is where the future needs to be. Half that $300 bl of tarp money that is left over would work really well to stimulate the space program and all the high paying jobs included. A one planet civilization is doomed.
 
R

rommel543

Guest
If NASA is keeping the shuttles then definitely display them at the space centers, it's their "homes" after all. If they're not going to display them I think they should be sold to someone who would display them (and use the funds toward the space program). Smithsonian for example, or SpacePort USA.
 
H

hipar

Guest
One of the shuttles that actually flew in space gos to the Smithsonian to take its place with The Spirit of St Louis, the Bell X-1 and the Wright Flier .. no ifs ands or buts. The other two space machines can go to qualified museums, one east of the Mississippi and one west of it as determined by lot to exclude politics. The one currently at the Smithsonian is the 'consolation prize'. I don't care where it goes.

--- CHAS
 
B

BlairJ

Guest
... and now that I think about it, I am surprised that a space.com poll would even mention the possibility of putting one of the shuttles on the moon as a "space musem". There is no way to put a shuttle on the moon without building a HUGE lander or settling for a vast debris field.
 
A

Admiral_Lagrange

Guest
I didn't vote because I think all 3 answers are off base.

1 should be kept on stand buy for emergency use.

1 should go to the National Air and Space Museum.

The 3rd should go on tour for all Americans to see.
 
B

BorgeTruelsen

Guest
they sure stay in orbit at the space station to get more room in the space station
 
M

MrShootist

Guest
Such glory. Really?

What could have been.

Permanent manned lunar colony.

What should have been.

Inexpensive single stage to orbit technology demostration.

What was.

$2 billion a year; whether it flies or not.

Put the shuttles in the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, next to the Spruce Goose
 
S

spacedengr

Guest
KSC - Where it was cared for and launched.

JSC - Where missions were planned and run.

MSFC - Where it was designed.
 
G

General_Kenobi

Guest
If I were President, I'd keep one for the White House lawn. Otherwise, they belong at the space centers.
 
W

wxgeek

Guest
They do not have to go ONLY to NASA centers but near a location. Example, Dryden is on Edwards so the public would have a hard time getting to see it. Here are my suggestions:

Discovery- Smithsonian ASM (already promissed to SASM)
Atlantis- Air Force Museum (Atlantis flew a bulk of the DOD mission)
Endeavour- Kennedy Space Center (KSC has to have one)

Enterprise- Palmdale (Built there, flight tested down the road near EDW)
 
S

SteveCNC

Guest
I like the first choice personally , when I go to Johnson space center to see everything they have it would be a major addition to have a shuttle there also , I think it will help increase interest in space in general . I also like Florida as a choice as well , although the Edwards choice I'm not as sure about , I mean sure I love that it won't be all that far from where I live but Edwards just doesn't seem like much of a tourist attraction , except when the shuttle is landing there which it won't be doing anymore .
 
M

moontube

Guest
Put one in the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. It can join the V-2, Titan 2, Apollo Lunar Module replica, X-15, and SR-71, not to mention the Spruce Goose Hughes Flying Boat.
 
S

Stuyoung38

Guest
Well, NASM has dibs on Discovery, freeing up Enterprise to be placed elsewhere. I'd personally like to see Atlantis and Endeavor stacked on ETs/SRBs, and housed right next to the Saturn Vs at JSC and KSC. Marshall already has a replica STS stack and 2 Saturn Vs; so maybe Enterprise can go to Dryden or Ames.

Just my $.02.
 
S

Stuyoung38

Guest
BlairJ":19ccojim said:
One shuttle should be loaded with space memorabilia and sent into an orbit around the sun that will bring it back to the vicinity of earth in one thousand years. If there are still any humans left, and if they are still able to access space, they will expect its return and will be able to retrieve it.

A romantic concept which does appeal to me. Unfortunately, if we had the ability to propel an Orbiter out of Earth orbit, establishing a base on the Moon would be a snap.

I wish we were there, instead of Congress, the Executive Branch, and commercial space all scrapping over the measly tidbits of capital allocated to space exploration.

Our society is a sham.
 
B

bdewoody

Guest
My true choice would be to keep flying them, put the people who built, maintained and launched them back to work as I'm sure they would like. At least until a decision about what they want to replace them with is made. Orion isn't really a replacement since it was being designed to do something entirely different. Maybe a manned X-37 development would be appropriate.
 
R

robert89se

Guest
I think that one of the Space Shuttles should sit on pad 39B, or A, in complete launch configuration, thereby being a REALLY cool tour attraction at the space center. Go to the top of the gantry and have your picture taken with the orbiter in the background. Or go into the white room and see the Orbiter open hatch, look inside. Walk around the orbiter on the mobile launch platform (MLP). On another option is you can sign up, pay say $1500 to be an astronaut for a day. You will dress in the complete orange launch attire, take the van to the pad, go up the gantry, be strapped into the orbiter, and go through a complete launch routine. I will buy the first ticket !
Robert Bird
Jacksonville, FL
 
D

dryson

Guest
I like the idea of using the shuttles in a space museum setting. The museum would be the first stop on an orbital sight seeing journey. Although the museum would be costly to maintain an orbit in space however.
 
D

dryson

Guest
I think that one of the Space Shuttles should sit on pad 39B, or A, in complete launch configuration, thereby being a REALLY cool tour attraction at the space center. Go to the top of the gantry and have your picture taken with the orbiter in the background. Or go into the white room and see the Orbiter open hatch, look inside. Walk around the orbiter on the mobile launch platform (MLP). On another option is you can sign up, pay say $1500 to be an astronaut for a day. You will dress in the complete orange launch attire, take the van to the pad, go up the gantry, be strapped into the orbiter, and go through a complete launch routine. I will buy the first ticket !
Robert Bird
Jacksonville, FL

What about simulating the launch experience by strapping some low thrust boosters to the shuttle and then actually firing them? You get the rumble and bumble and vibration along with an additional $1000 for a total package of $2500 plus some spending money to visit Helga's House of Pain.
 
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