Texas politicians make headway in effort to wrench space shuttle from Smithsonian

In 2011, the NASA Office of the Inspector General investigated the process that NASA went through and found “no evidence that the White House, politics, or any other outside force improperly influenced the selection decision.” The OIG did find one “significant error,” but it would have benefited the National Museum of the US Air Force in Ohio, rather than Space Center Houston.

Don’t say Discovery

The language in the Senate bill avoids any mention of the Smithsonian, Space Center Houston, Discovery, or even the space shuttle. It only stipulates that a “space vehicle” (defined as a vessel that carried people into space) be transferred within 18 months of enactment to a NASA center “involved in the administration of the Commercial Crew program” and put on public display “within the Metropolitan Statistical Area” of that center.

The bill directs that the NASA administrator (or acting administrator) identify the vehicle within 30 days of the bill becoming law. Of the four retired orbiters, Enterprise in New York and Endeavour in California are owned by their display homes; Discovery and Atlantis, the latter on display in Florida, remain federal property.

The vagueness of the wording is an effort to avoid the provision being flagged by the Senate parliamentarian for violating the “Byrd rule,” which keeps “extraneous matter” out of Senate reconciliation bills, including earmarks directed at a specific recipient, according to Roll Call. The shuttle move, as originally phrased, was identified as being at risk.

Should the text remain and make it to a vote and the Senate passes the bill, then it still must return to the House of Representatives to be reconciled with its version passed in May. Rep. Randy Weber, serving Texas’ 14th District, said that he was prepared to enter Discovery’s move into the House bill.

“We’re working on it,” said Weber at Space Center Houston, standing with Cornyn. “They are working on the Big Beautiful Bill; we’ll get this done and, hopefully, we’ll get this headed our way.”