There’s a new NASA administrator in the Trump administration. And just a few weeks into his role, Jared Isaacman has already shared his thoughts on the controversial plan to move the Space Shuttle Discovery from Virginia to Texas.
During an interview on CNBC’s Closing Bell Overtime, Isaacman said: “My predecessor had already selected a vehicle. … My job now is to make sure that we can undertake such a transportation within the budget dollars we have available and of course, most importantly, ensuring the safety of the vehicle.”
“If we can’t do that, we’ve got spacecraft that are going around the moon with Artemis II, III, IV, and V. One way or another, we are going to make sure that Johnson Space Center gets their historic spacecraft right where it belongs,” Isaacman continued.
The controversial decision to move the Discovery — currently located in the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly — became a topic of conservation earlier this year. In April, Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn introduced legislation that called for the shuttle to be transferred to NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. Though the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act” failed, there was a provision to relocate the shuttle in the One Big, Beautiful Bill, which passed in July.
After the One Big, Beautiful Bill passed, more legislators joined Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in trying to block funding for the shuttle’s relocation, including former astronaut Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin.
Though funding for the relocation has been allocated, there are still plenty of obstacles before it can happen. For one, the One Big, Beautiful Bill only authorized $85 million to transport the Discovery from Chantilly to Houston. That’s far below $120 million and $150 million minimum estimates that NASA and the Smithsonian provided. Another $250 million will also be needed to construct a “purpose-built museum facility” to house the shuttle at the Johnson Space Center.
Aside from funding, there’s also the fact that the Smithsonian owns the shuttle. While the Smithsonian gets government funding, its artifacts and collections are not federal property. Instead, they are trust objects subject to Smithsonian control. The Smithsonian has also said that moving the shuttle poses a significant risk of damaging the artifact.
Chris Browne, the Air and Space Museum director, said: “We, on our part with the Smithsonian, are working very hard to prevent [the move] from happening. We think it’s badly ill-advised for many, many reasons.”
Discovery arrived at the Udvar-Hazy Center in 2012 after 39 space flights and 27 years in service.
Feature image by Eric Long, courtesy National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
