NASA Names Final Destinations for Shuttles

April 13, 2011 — You won’t see space shuttles blast off toward the International Space Station much longer, but you will be able to see them on display at institutions across the country. After 30 years of spaceflight, more than 130 missions, and numerous science and technology firsts, NASA's space shuttle fleet will retire and be displayed at museums to inspire the next generation of explorers and engineers. On Tuesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the facilities where four shuttle orbiters will be displayed permanently at the conclusion of the space shuttle program. They include: Enterprise, the first orbiter built, will move from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. The Udvar-Hazy Center will become the new home for Discovery, which retired after completing its 39th mission in March. Endeavour, which is preparing for its final flight at the end of the month, will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Atlantis, which will fly the last planned shuttle mission in June, will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex in Florida. "We want to thank all of the locations that expressed an interest in one of these national treasures," Bolden said. "This was a very difficult decision, but one that was made with the American public in mind. In the end, these choices provide the greatest number of people with the best opportunity to share in the history and accomplishments of NASA's remarkable space shuttle program.” NASA also announced that hundreds of shuttle artifacts have been allocated to other museums and education institutions, such as: Various shuttle simulators for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum of McMinnville, Oregon and Texas A&M's Aerospace Engineering Department Full fuselage trainer for the Museum of Flight in Seattle Nose cap assembly and crew compartment trainer for the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio Flight deck pilot and commander seats for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston Orbital maneuvering system engines for the U.S. Space and Rocket Center of Huntsville, Alabama, National Air and Space Museum in Washington, and Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

During a ceremony at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announces where the four space shuttle orbiters will be permanently displayed at the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls Tucked inside a payload canister, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS) and Express Logistics Carrier-3 arrived March 21 at Launch Pad 39A for installation in space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

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