![]() ![]() Additionally, Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History and the Bush Library at Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas scored poorly on museum attendance, regional population and was the only facility found to pose a significant risk in transporting an orbiter there. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama scored poorly on international access. Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, San Diego Air and Space Museum, San Diego, Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas, Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium, Tulsa, Oklahoma and U.S. The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, March Field Air Museum, Riverside, California, Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, National Museum of the U.S. In August 2011 the NASA Inspector General released an audit of the display selection process it highlighted issues which led to the final decision. The chair of the NASA committee that made the selections pointed to the guidance from Congress that the orbiters go to facilities where the most people could see them, and the ties to the space program of Southern California (home to Edwards Air Force Base, where nearly half of shuttle flights have ended and home to the plants which manufactured the orbiters and the RS-25 engines), the Smithsonian (curator of the nation's air and space artifacts), the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (where all Shuttle launches originated, and a large tourist draw) and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum ( Intrepid also served as the recovery ship for Project Mercury and Project Gemini). Chicago media questioned the decision not to include the Adler Planetarium in the list of facilities receiving orbiters, pointing to Chicago's 3rd-largest population in the United States. While local and Congressional politicians in Texas questioned if partisan politics played a role in the selection, former JSC Director Wayne Hale wrote, "Houston didn't get an orbiter because Houston didn't deserve it", pointing to weak support from area politicians, media and residents, describing a "sense of entitlement". Elected officials representing Houston, Texas, location of the Johnson Space Center and Dayton, Ohio, location of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, called for Congressional investigations into the selection process, though no such action was taken. Museums and other facilities not selected to receive an orbiter were disappointed. Space Shuttle Atlantis towed back to the Orbiter Processing Facility for the last time at the end of the Shuttle program Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Chantilly, Virginia, where Discovery has taken its place. * Prior to its move to New York, Enterprise was displayed at the Steven F. Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, On April 12, 2011, NASA announced a selection of locations for the remaining Shuttle orbiters: Fate of surviving STS program hardware Orbiters An example of reuse, is that one of the three Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) was converted to a permanent module for the International Space Station. Hardware developed for the Space Shuttle met various ends with conclusion of the program, including donation, disuse and/or disposal, or reuse. Counter-proposals to the shuttle's retirement were considered by Congress and the prime contractor United Space Alliance as late as Spring 2010. Later, one additional mission was added for Atlantis for July 2011, extending the program further. ![]() In/by 2010 the Shuttle was formally scheduled for retirement with Atlantis being taken out of service first after STS-132 in May of that year, but the program was once again extended when the two final planned missions were delayed until 2011. space station evolved into that of the International Space Station, which suffered from long delays and design changes before it could be completed, the service life of the Space Shuttle fleet was extended several times until 2011 when it was finally retired.Īfter the Columbia loss in 2003, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board report showed that STS was risky/unsafe, and due to the expense to make Shuttle safe, in 2004, President G.W.Bush announced (along with the VSE policy) that Shuttle would be retired in 2010 (after completing the ISS assembly). ![]() The Shuttle was presented to the public in 1972 as a "space truck" which would, among other things, be used to build a United States space station in low Earth orbit in the early 1990s and then be replaced by a new vehicle. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year Space Shuttle program. Discovery was the first of the three active Space Shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on MaEndeavour did so on June 1. The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. ![]()
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