Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn introduced legislation to move Discovery to Space Center Houston from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Ted Cruz Wants a Real Space Shuttle in Houston, Not a Fake One
There’s money and desire to move a retired spaceship from Washington, but it’s a logistical nightmare.
Texas’s two senators are on a crusade to bring one of NASA’s retired space shuttles to Houston, logistical difficulties be damned.
A small provision tucked inside the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed last month gives $85 million to the agency for a “space vehicle transfer.” The accompanying language essentially calls for a shuttle that’s flown to space to be moved to a site near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, which ran the shuttle program’s operations before the vehicles were retired in 2011.