As if losing the space shuttles to New York and Los Angeles wasn't bad enough, it looks like Houston's Space Center is going to take another hit.
Along with the retiring space shuttles, which are heading to Florida, New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C., NASA published a list of space shuttle artifacts to be distributed to museums and science centers around the country this summer when the shuttle program is ended. Sadly for Houston, many of those artifacts now booked for other museums are currently found at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Ore., and Texas A&M’s Aerospace Engineering Department will each receive a shuttle simulator from Houston. The selection of A&M might have been meant as a consolation prize for Houston — or perhaps as a substitute for the not picking Bryan's Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History, former President George W. Bush's choice for a shuttle.
Instead it feels like a slap in the face.
The Johnson Space Center does get to keep the flight deck pilot and commander seats. However other shuttle gear, including a fuselage trainer and crew compartment trainer, is heading across the country to Seattle, Ohio, and Alabama.
Perhaps the crew at Johnson could "misplace" a few of these goods before it's time to hand them over? What, you never heard of Lost in Space?
