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NASA and Obama stiff Texas and Middle America

Steve

Well-known member
the newly announced decision to place three of the space shuttles on the east coast and two in the north east sent me a clear message..

NASA and the Obama administration does not care about the rest of the country.. or they do and sent US a message by not including any Midwest location in the distribution of the shuttles..

I fully understand the Smithsonian decision. it is a fitting place to display a shuttle..

a west coast location is fair as well, even if i do not agree on the exact location..

Florida Kennedy center makes since as well...

having visited the intrepid museum several times.. well to say it nicely, it isn't an easy location.. not much space, and most of that is already taken.. while it should have been in the running for some sort of display..
I can't see how they can do the shuttle justice..

but what I find most insulting is the lack of a western / midwestern space shuttle..
 

jingo2

Well-known member
This may be the DUMBEST post I've yet to read here.......................

some people will bitch about ANYTHING................. :roll: :roll: :roll:
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
jingo2 said:
This may be the DUMBEST post I've yet to read here.......................

some people will bitch about ANYTHING................. :roll: :roll: :roll:

So now you know what if feels like. :D
 

Steve

Well-known member
jingo2 said:
This may be the DUMBEST post I've yet to read here.......................

some people will bitch about ANYTHING................. :roll: :roll: :roll:

have you ever been to the NYC Intrepid museum?
 

hopalong

Well-known member
jingo2 said:
This may be the DUMBEST post I've yet to read here.......................

some people will bitch about ANYTHING................. :roll: :roll: :roll:

Case in point kolo=jimgo=lulu=allie :D :D :D :D
 

Steve

Well-known member
well if Texas has its say..

Texas congressmen threaten legislation to block space shuttle from coming to NY

HOUSTON -- Houston has a problem with being snubbed as a destination for one NASA's retiring space shuttles and 16 Texas congressmen Thursday threatened legislation to block one from going to New York City.

On Thursday, 15 Republican House members and one Democrat wrote to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden demanding answers and warning "we will do everything in our power in Congress, including legislation to prevent funding of the transfer, to stop this wasteful decision" to give New York City the piece of space exploration history.

Its rightful place, they argued, was Houston's Johnson Space Center, "the operational center of every US human space mission since June 1965."

"The first word spoken on the moon landing was 'Houston', not New York City," said Republican Rep. Ted Poe in a statement.

"NASA and the Johnson Space Center have been the home base for space exploration for decades. It defies logic for a shuttle to go to New York City, a place with no connection to NASA. It's like putting the Statue of Liberty in Omaha."

In the letter they said having three shuttles on the East Coast and one on the West Coast did not make "geographic sense" and asked Bolden, "Wouldn't a more central location ensure that the highest number of Americans would be able to visit?"

The surviving family members of the deadly Columbia and Challenger shuttle accidents were quick to note Tuesday that all of the astronauts killed in those incidents were Houston residents. They called themselves "heartbroken" that the Texas city was left with only the promise of a few accessories to put on display.

"Home is where the heart is, and Houston has served as the heart of the space shuttle program since its inception nearly four decades ago," the families said in a statement.
 

Steve

Well-known member
astronaut_for_sale_NASA.800w_600h.jpg
Houston's space snub only getting worse: Space City forced to give up shuttle gear to other cities

"Houston's finding a lot more of its space gear up for grabs from other cities' museums."

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.

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.
 

Steve

Well-known member
as it the insult to Texas couldn't get worse.. they get a seat ...

And Houston?

It will have to settle for such shuttle artifacts as seats for the flight deck pilot and commander.

"It's really just a slap in the face," said Ed Emmett, chief executive of Harris County, which includes Houston.

The Space Center Houston is a museum adjacent to Johnson Space Center that attracts 750,000 visitors a year. It hosted a viewing party Tuesday, streaming the broadcast of NASA's choices throughout the facility.

"We were a bit crestfallen," said Space Center spokesman Jack Moore. He added, however, "so we won't have the machine here, but we still have the people."

Shuttle astronauts all trained in Houston and perhaps 25 to 35 still live here, said Bob Mitchell, president of Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, which helped lead the city's bid to secure a retiring shuttle.

"It doesn't make sense at all," he said.

Mitchell said President Obama's re-election bid factored into NASA's choosing locations in Florida and California. Houston Mayor Annise Parker struck a similar tone, saying the decision was largely expected since the White House hinted "Houston would not be a winner in this political competition."

"There was no other city with our history of human space flight or more deserving of a retiring orbiter," Parker said in a statement.

Mitchell said he would like a congressional investigation into NASA's decision-making — and expects Texas congressional leaders to call for one.

In a statement, Republican Sen. John Cornyn said, "it is clear political favors trumped common sense and fairness." Added Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, "with this White House I always expect the worst and am rarely disappointed."

In a conference call, NASA acknowledged that its choices meant all the shuttles were heading to different coasts and that the middle of the country was shutout, but it defended the decisions and said it would welcome a congressional inquiry.

Moore said the Space Center museum already has a large collection of memorabilia, including a full-scale mock-up of the shuttle.

I guess he didn't get the memo yet that NASA is taking back all the gear as well.. :mad:
 
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