Texas Senators have launched an all-out crusade to break Space Shuttle Discovery into pieces and move it to their state. This iconic spacecraft has been on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, and the institution isn’t giving it up without a fight. As this […]
Texas Senators Want to Chop Up Space Shuttle Discovery
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., has been home to Space Shuttle Discovery for more than a decade. Each year, millions of visitors get the chance to munch on freeze-dried “astronaut ice cream” and gaze up at the iconic spaceship that launched the Hubble Space Telescope and built the International Space […]
NASA Approves Ted Cruz’s Plan to Move a Space Shuttle to Houston, Setting Up a Fight With the Smithsonian
NASA has selected a yet-to-be-named Space Shuttle to move to Houston, conceding to a long-running bid by Texas senators to house one of the iconic vehicles. If the chosen vehicle is Discovery—which it likely is—the Smithsonian, which houses the vehicle, may put up a fight. The Trump administration included the shuttle’s relocation in the budget […]
Rocket Engines That Flew 22 Space Shuttle Missions Are Ready for NASA’s Next Moon Mission
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is ready to fly with its four shuttle-era engines. The rocket, outfitted with the RS-25 engines, recently passed a critical milestone that put the integrated system to the test, using a decades-old design on a new launch vehicle. NASA teams successfully completed the RS-25 engine checkout tests at the Kennedy […]