Why the fuck would CA and NY get a shuttle but not Johnson Space Center where all manned flights are ran from? The only thing they in FL based on what I know is get the shuttle off the pad, and then its Houston control that takes over the for the rest of the flight. They play the biggest role in our flights and have for decades.
But somehow the “California Science Center” gets one? And NYC?
liberals decided where they went ?
I thought it was strange on where they would go also ?
I can tell you why California got one. Because the original Space Shuttle was built about 3 miles from my house in Palmdale, California and the first shuttle launch was in California from Edwards AFB when they were still piggy backing on top of the modified 747.
So California is essentially the birthplace of the Space Shuttle.
… That’s a pretty damn good reason right there …
Google says the first launch, STS-1, was from Kennedy Space Center in FL.
Or are you talking about ‘testing’. The first time it got off the ground was piggybacked to a 747 the entire time. They did free flight testing for a few months around Edwards.
Still seems like Johnson in Houston is a more deserving location considering they have run the shuttle missions for decades. If CA should get one for the testing they did at Edwards in the 70’s then the one going to NY should be in TX. The Smithsonian is also getting one, and isn’t all the far from NY anyways.
Here’s a company offering them for sale. Shipping’s pricey:
Agreed - Houston definitely deserved one.
Kalifornia though most certainly deserves on too however as it has been the landing location for most Shuttle missions and as already pointed out, initial testing and building were done here as well. Kalifornia has been as essential to the space/shuttle program as Texas or Florida.
Enterprise should go to Kalifornia.
New York on the other hand 
Politics as usual. Florida is just lucky that their Shuttle didn’t end up in Chicago.
Given that the shuttles are going to be an attraction for tourists, it makes sense (at least from a financial perspective) to put them where there are lots of tourists.
Who vacations in Houston?
The remaining shuttles will be seen by far more visitors in SoCal, NYC, Florida, and Washington, D.C., and I’m guessing that’s what the decision was based upon.
The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum is getting the Shuttle Enterprise… The one that was tested in Cali and never went into space…
This makes no sense… They are moving the Enterprise to NY, and putting Discovery in its place… Why not just give Discovery to NY? Less transportation no? Yes its cheaper for NY to get Enterprise since it already has undergone all the modifications needed to be a museum show piece, and will be cheaper for NY, but it still sounds dumb to me.
NASA should have given us a real one, not this knock off… could have sent it back to Cali where it belongs, instead of giving them Endeavor.
Seriously tho, That Museum sees a lot of patron and the Shuttle will be showcased very well there, I believe.
That’s not to say that it would not show well in Huston, but that is the site of mission control, not the launch… If anything, at least Kennedy Space Center got one, so at least that makes sense.
Johnson space center has a full museum, interactive exhibits, school tours, rocket park, you can take tours of both the old and new mission control, ect.
As I said before Smithsonian is not that far from NYC. If someone really wanted to see a shuttle its a short trip. Now if you don’t live near either coast theres no reasonable way to see one. The East coast now has 3 shuttles.
If you want to talk about specific tourist numbers the WPAFB gets around 400k more visitors a year than Intrepid.
Belmont,
1981 is the first launch with rocket boosters. I grew up down the street from the plant where it was built. They used to put it on the back of 747’s during the initial testing and release it once they reached a certain ceiling.
I know California is fucked up, but the fact is that they built and launched the shuttle program from there. It was in fact the beginning.
Ok so if CA and FL get one then TX certainly should, too.
I will give you the shuttle back for some of your gun rights
No, they don’t really do that much at KSC, just put the thing on the pad and light the fuse when the time is right. Now JSC, they do the heavy lifting, wake up calls, that sort of thing. Seriously, Texas should have gotten one. This decision, like any action or decision made by a leftist is based on a single factor, politics. Plain old partisan politics.
Maybe that was a release and glide flight… I was in Florida on my honeymoon and saw the first shuttle ROCKET launch from the beach. That was 30 years ago yesterday and what a sight! It arced out over the Atlantic and didn’t stick around for very long either…
Before he left office W should have transferred title of one of the orbiters to Texas who could have leased it back for a buck a year. I’ve heard people say “Don’t mess with Texas.” Well, he’s messing with Texas. What are you Texicans going to do about it?
Growing up immersed in aviation and living right down the street from KSC I saw a good many launches, Mercurys, Geminis, and five Apollos, #7, #9, #11, #13 and #15. I never saw a Shuttle launch up close until STS-131 last year. Pretty impressive but not as impressive as a big ole Saturn V. If I had it to do over again I would make more of an effort to go down and watch. I plan to watch the last mission. Me and about two million others.
No Shuttle has ever been launched from other than KSC. The Air Force built facilities at Vandenberg but never launched from there. Shuttle availability was no where near what the Air Force expected. The fact is the STS was far less efficient and safe and far more costly than promised. NASA originally planned a mission a week with a one month turn around of the orbiters at a cost of $100 million per launch. They delivered one fifth of the missions for fifteen times the cost in a system that killed one of every 25 astronauts. The STS was supposed to be safe, inexpensive and boringly routine. It was none of those things.
Chicago was one of the candidates too :rolleyes:
Sure it has nothing to with these states voting blue in the election
Obviously this is a sore subject, so just blow the damn things up and be done with it.
We have a clash of principles here. The first principle is that life isn’t fair. The second principle is that government exists to make life fair.