The launching and landing of space shuttles has always been a fairly coastal affair: The shuttles take off from Florida and almost always touch down in Florida or California. (Once, in 1982, a shuttle landed at New Mexico's White Sands Space Harbor.) NASA is continuing that coastal tradition with the placement of its retired and retiring shuttles, whose final homes were announced April 12. The three shuttles will be displayed in Florida, Los Angeles and Virginia, and a test-flight shuttle that never reached orbit will go to New York City.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden unveiled the selections at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Bolden, himself a former astronaut, called the space shuttle "one of the most amazing technological marvels of all time." He added that its significance would become even more apparent after the program is phased out later this year, leaving the U.S. without a means to launch astronauts or large payloads into orbit.

Bolden announced that Kennedy, the starting point for shuttle journeys, will receive the Atlantis orbiter after it completes its final flight—and the final mission of the shuttle program—in June. Bolden's announcement was greeted by loud cheers and applause at the center.

The Endeavour orbiter, which is scheduled to launch on its final mission April 29, will then head to the California Science Center in Los Angeles for display.

Discovery, the oldest and most-utilized shuttle in the fleet and the first to enter retirement following a March 9 landing, will go to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) as had been widely expected. The orbiter will replace the Enterprise test shuttle, which was used for atmospheric and landing tests but never for spaceflight, already on display at the NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., outside Washington, D.C.

Enterprise, Bolden announced, will head north to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

The chosen locations will no doubt rankle many organizations in the middle of the country that contributed heavily to the space shuttle program, not least NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, home to Mission Control. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio was also angling for an orbiter, citing a long history of cooperation on the shuttle program with NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense. Bolden said that although there were not enough shuttles to go around, other interested sites would receive hardware and artifacts from the program.

The announcements came on a date rich in spaceflight history. April 12 is the 30th anniversary of the maiden shuttle flight, STS 1, and the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's 1961 orbital trip on Vostok 1.

4 Comments

1. 1. william d 07:10 PM 4/13/11

   Houston we have an identity problem.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

2. 2. ennui 02:13 AM 4/15/11

   Sooner or later the people will realize, that not the Shuttles should have been retired but the Nasa Management.
   The Shuttles could have been flown for another 30 years if they had been equipped with the Propulsion Systems of the Flying Saucer, which they were offered in 1980.
   They would have reached the ISS in one hour and the Moon in a couple of hours.
   Even Mars would have been visited.
   

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

3. 3. sanforce in reply to ennui 12:03 AM 4/16/11

   I have to admit, I was originally pretty angry at the decision to retire the shuttles. They are beautiful birds and a great source of pride to the spirit of American ingenuity. However, I have since calmed down and realized that this announcement is actually long overdue.
   
   Consider the following reasons:
   
   The shuttle program is past its 30th birthday at this point. Think about the staggering rate of technological advancement since they were originally engineered/designed.
   
   The payload capacity of the shuttle is a meager 25,000 kg. The recently announced SpaceX Heavy will have a capacity of around 55,000 kg, and the retired NASA Saturn V could lift an astounding 120,000 kg in to orbit.
   
   The shuttle can only travel in to Earth orbit. Standard "tube" type rockets have a much greater flexibility and can be placed on trans Lunar/Mars injection paths (among others).
   
   The astronauts flying the shuttle have absolutely no way to abort in the event of a catastrophic failure. If the failure isn't catastrophic, the pilots can separate from the orange fuel tank/solid rockets and enter a glide abort path. But lets get real here, the majority of launch failures are not mild affairs. Although not fail safe, capsules have launch escape rockets that are designed to jettison everyone away from the failing main rocket. Ideally, this story will end with the astronauts returning to Earth under a safe canopy of parachutes.
   
   The shuttle is extremely expensive. At this point, one study concluded that we have spent around $200 billion on the shuttle program all together, and I don't believe this figure includes the actual science carried within the cargo bay. That's around $5 billion per year in today's dollars. In contrast, the more capable Falcon Heavy is only supposed to cost $50 million per launch (probably a bit more when all is said and done, but significantly less than a shuttle launch).
   
   In an ideal world, most would love to keep the shuttle flying. But in these turbulent economic times, it's clear that we could be getting a lot more bang for our buck.
   
   (plus, we'll now be able to see them up close in museums)

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this

4. 4. sanforce 05:33 PM 4/19/11

   "TeaPublicanism" "Quacktardness" "RepubliTard"
   
   You're sounding more educated by the minute! Keep it up.

   Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this