For months, Texas senators have been waging a controversial campaign to move NASA’s iconic Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Houston’s Johnson Space Center, a risky $150 million effort.
Like any NASA leader worth his salt, newly confirmed Administrator Jared Isaacman has come up with a contingency plan.
In an interview with CNBC on December 23, Isaacman said moving Discovery will depend on whether it can be done without damaging the space shuttle and the budget. If not, he suggested sending Houston a different spacecraft, like the Orion capsule.
“If we can’t do that, you know we have spacecraft orbiting the Moon and Artemis 2, 3, 4 and 5,” Isaacman said. “One way or another, we’re going to make sure Johnson Space Center gets its historic spacecraft where it belongs.”
Houston’s fight for spaceship
In April, Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced legislation to “bring Discovery home to Texas.” Key provisions of that bill were eventually included in HR 1, the budget reconciliation bill that was signed into law on July 4.
Unlike Cornyn and Cruz’s original bill, these provisions do not specifically mention Discovery or the Johnson Space Center. Instead, HR 1 includes $85 million for a “space vehicle transfer” for a crewed spacecraft at a NASA facility involved in the agency’s commercial crew program and directs NASA to select a spacecraft to be transferred within 30 days of the law.
The bill also states that the chosen vehicle must have flown into space, carried astronauts, and must be selected with the approval of a third party chosen by the NASA administrator. Discovery, the shuttle’s busiest shuttle during its 27 years in service, fits that bill, but it’s not the only option.
In August, NASA said then-acting Administrator Sean Duffy had selected a vehicle, but the agency declined to say which one. The office of Sen. Cornyn later said the choice was the retired space shuttle to the Johnson Space Center—without specifying which shuttle.
Despite the uncertainty, the very prospect of removing Discovery from its home at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has fueled efforts to block the transfer. Senate Democrats, grassroots lobbyists, and the Smithsonian — which owns Discovery — have all expressed concern about the costly and dangerous disintegration the move would entail.
Adoption drama
In a letter to the relevant Congressional committees in early October, the Smithsonian said the museum and NASA agreed that Discovery would have to be “dismantled” for removal, which would risk destroying the historic vehicle.
The book also estimated that the minimum cost of moving Discovery is between $120 million to $150 million, excluding the cost of building a new shuttle facility in Houston.
Cornyn and Cruz have disputed those allegations, even calling for a Justice Department investigation into the Smithsonian’s “unlawful lobbying” against Discovery’s initiative. The DOJ has yet to initiate such an investigation.
Whether NASA and the Smithsonian move forward with the Discovery transfer remains to be seen, but the decision to give Houston the Orion capsule would likely be the easiest—and cheapest—alternative. Those spacecraft are much smaller than spaceships and can be transported by truck.
As Isaacman takes over NASA in the midst of this spacefaring saga, it’s clear that he wants to find a solution that will please both powerful senators and the space community. In the interview, he stressed that saving Discovery and keeping NASA’s budget are his top priorities.
“My job now is to make sure we can do transportation in this way with the budget dollars we have, and most importantly, ensure vehicle safety,” he said.
