Retiring space shuttles to be displayed in museums, schools and similar institutions

NASA has given a unique opportunity to museums, schools and other similar institutions to have the honor of displaying retired space shuttles. The US space agency has been looking for suitable places where it can dispose of its space shuttles that will be going out of service by 2010.

The US space agency sent a notice informing different institutions about the agency’s plan. This was done in order to gauge the qualifications and interest of the institutions along with their housing capacity for the space shuttles.

The space shuttles are set to go out of service by September 10th 2010. They will be made available to the institutions one year after the date of retirement according to Michael Curie who happens to be a NASA spokesman. He said “These are national assets; national treasures and something that NASA feels the public would want to see displayed publicly for years to come”.

Amongst the institutions that have been offered to house the retiring shuttle “Discovery” is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum located in Washington. The director of the institute Clare Brown said “We have the information, and of course, we’re thrilled to be considered for this artifact”.  The institute has not taken any actions regarding figuring out the cost of housing the space shuttle.

Indeed it would be quite a privilege to house a NASA space shuttle but at the same time it won’t be cheap. The estimated cost to keep a NASA space shuttle in house has been calculated at $42 million. It will take around $28.2 million to remove all the hazardous chemicals from the shuttle. Some of the harmful chemicals found used in space shuttles include nitrogen teroxide, hydrazine and ammonia. They are used as coolants and fuel. It would take another $8 million to ready the shuttle for display.