Senators spar over plans to move shuttle Discovery

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — A provision in the budget reconciliation bill that funds the move of a space shuttle orbiter from the Smithsonian to a Houston museum continues to stir debate among senators amid concerns about the cost and viability of such a move.

A provision in the budget reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, enacted in July provided $85 million for a “space vehicle transfer.” While the language of the bill was not specific, that provision was interpreted by many to seek to move Discovery, currently at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia, to Space Center Houston.

NASA said Aug. 5 that it complied with language in the bill requiring the agency to select the vehicle for transfer but did not disclose the vehicle. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, immediately sent out a release announcing that NASA had selected a shuttle and that “Congressional intent of the law makes clear that this is aimed at the movement of Space Shuttle Discovery.”

The move has prompted efforts to block the transfer. Four Democratic senators, including Virginia’s Mark Warner and Tim Kaine as well as Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee Sept. 23 asking them to include language in a final fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill to prevent the use of any additional federal funds for a move. Kelly is a former astronaut whose twice flew on Discovery.

The $85 million, they stated falls far short of the actual costs to move Discovery and build a new exhibit for the orbiter in Houston. “Dedicating hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to move an artifact that is already housed, displayed, and preserved in a world-class facility is both inefficient and unjustifiable,” they wrote.

They also raised questions about the safety of such a move. “Moving the shuttle would inevitably and irreparably compromise the artifact and render it unusable as a museum-quality collection item, permanently diminishing its historical and cultural value for future generations,” they wrote.

In a letter sent to congressional committees and later distributed to media by advocates for keeping Discovery in Virginia, the Smithsonian Institution said both it and NASA estimated the cost for moving Discovery to be $120 million to $150 million, a figure that excludes the cost of building a facility for housing the orbiter at Space Center Houston.

“While an engineering study will be necessary due to the size and weight of the space vehicle, both NASA and the Smithsonian believe that Discovery will have to undergo significant disassembly to be moved,” the letter stated. “Discovery is the most intact shuttle orbiter of the NASA program, and we remain concerned that disassembling the vehicle will destroy its historical value.”

The letter also reiterated the Smithsonian’s position that the orbiter is not NASA’s to transfer. It notes that NASA transferred “all rights, title, interest and ownership” to Discovery when the museum took possession of the orbiter more than a decade ago.

The release of that memo, as well as the earlier letter from Democratic senators, prompted a response Oct. 6 by Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. In their own letter to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee, they asked that no restrictions be placed on funding for the shuttle’s move to Houston in fiscal 2026 spending bills.

The letter reiterated past claims that NASA selected the locations where the retired shuttles would be placed based on political influence, even though a review by NASA’s inspector general in 2011 found no evidence of such influence.

The Texas senators also claimed that the Smithsonian was lobbying Congress to block the transfer, which they claimed was “conduct that appears to violate the Anti-Lobbying Act.” Those efforts included “misinformation about the logistics of the move, falsely claiming that the shuttle’s wings would need to be removed for transport, a claim not supported by industry experts.”

The senators said the cost estimates for the move developed by the Smithsonian and NASA were “more than ten times higher than quotes from experienced private-sector logistics firms,” although the letter did not elaborate on those other estimates, or the expertise those firms have in moving a vehicle like Discovery.