Texas lawmakers have added legislation to the One Big, Beautiful Bill that, if passed, would move the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center to Houston.
But in documents sent to Congress (and shared with Northern Virginia Magazine), the Smithsonian says that “The case against relocating the orbiter Discovery is both philosophical and practical.”
The Space Shuttle Discovery
During its 27 years in service, the Space Shuttle Discovery completed 39 space flights. It has been on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly since 2012.
Republican Texas senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn first raised the idea of moving the Discovery in April. The two senators introduced a bill called the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act,” which would have moved the shuttle to Houston.
At the time, Cruz said “It is past time that the Space Center Houston Museum houses a space shuttle, given the unique relationship between the entire program and its support staff in Houston.”
With that act stalled in legislation, the effort to move it has shifted into the One Big Beautiful Bill, a sweeping domestic policy package from the Trump administration. The provision in the Great Big Beautiful Bill would authorize $85 million to transport the shuttle from Chantilly to the Houston Space Center.
Cost to Transfer the Discovery
But estimates from the Smithsonian say that would cover only a fraction of the cost necessary for the move.
For one, the jetliners previously used for transport are no longer operational. The Smithsonian says that it would cost millions to move, and that “the risk of damage to the artifact is significant.” A cost estimate that the Smithsonian sent to Congress estimates that the total cost to transfer the Discovery would be somewhere around $325 million.
That cost includes $50 million to $55 million to physically transport the shuttle, either by a combination of air and ground or a combination of barge and ground transportation. It also includes $25 million in contingencies and about $250 million for the construction of a “purpose-built museum facility” in Houston.
An “Unprecedented” Move
“It would be unprecedented for Congress to remove an object from a Smithsonian collection and send it somewhere else,” the Smithsonian said in its document. It notes that the Discovery is not on loan from NASA; ownership was transferred to the National Air and Space Museum.
The Smithsonian also notes that it does not manage collections as “government property subject to federal property disposal rules.” Instead, artifacts are treated as trust objects subject to Smithsonian control.
National Air & Space Museum director Chris Browne told The Washington Business Journal that “Our position is that the Discovery is staying right where it is.”
The Smithsonian also argues that Discovery’s presence at the Air and Space Museum is important to the museum’s function as a research facility and object library. And, it notes, the Air and Space Museum has held shuttles (first Enterprise, then Discovery) since 1985, and more than 25 million visitors have come to see those shuttles at Udvar-Hazy.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine also objected to the proposed move. Among a list of amendments he filed against the Big Beautiful Bill on Monday, Kaine included an amendment “To prevent the transfer of the Space Shuttle Discovery from the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia — where it is available for viewing to the public free of charge — to Houston, Texas. The transfer would cost hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars and force Americans to pay an admission fee to view the shuttle.”
Feature image by April Greer for Visit Fairfax
