Do you know what is burying in the bill? $85,000,000... that is eighty-five million dollars to move the space shuttle Discovery on display in the McDonnell Space Hangar at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum to Texas!
WHAT THE F**K!
Buried in the sweeping legislation is an $85 million provision to move NASA's most-flown spacecraft from the national collection to Space Center Houston.Space.comBy Robert Z. PearlmanJuly 4, 2025On July 4, 2006, NASA's space shuttle Discovery launched on a "return to flight" mission that paved the way for it and its sister ships to fly for another five years. Now, a sprawling budget enacted on Independence Day will seemingly lead to Discovery lifting off again — though this time not into space, but rather from its place in the national collection.President Donald Trump signed into law the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" today (July 4), a day after the legislation was narrowly passed out of Congress with only Republican support. Deep within the 900-page bill is a provision added by Texas' senators to transfer a "space vehicle" to a NASA center "involved in the administration of the Commercial Crew Program" and "placed on public exhibition at an entity within the Metropolitan Statistical Area where such center is located."The vague language, written in such a way to skirt Senate restrictions on reconciliation bills, was aimed at achieving the "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act" introduced by Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn in April.
Do you believe this! Cronyism! His Republicans friends want to spend $85,000,000 dollars for their egos.
The bill allocates $85 million to move Discovery from the its display home of the past 13 years, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, to Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas. "No less than $5 million" is earmarked for the transportation of the winged orbiter, with the remainder going towards the "construction of a facility to house the space vehicle."
It is being moved from the people's museum to Texas little collection, three time the number of people visit the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum than Johnson Space Center. This is for bragging rights for Cruz and Abbott!
Update: 7/12 @ 5AM
The Smithsonian is going down fighting! Trump's tried to put his hand picked Board of Regents members but was blocked and now...
Big Beautiful Bill funds orbiter’s move to Texas.Flying MagazineBy Zach VasileJuly 11, 2025There is a battle brewing over ownership of a retired NASA space shuttle.The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump at the White House last week, sets aside $85 million to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from its current home at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia to the NASA-run Johnson Space Center in Houston.But the Smithsonian Institution, which operates the National Air and Space Museum, is fighting to keep the spacecraft. In a message sent to Congress, the organization said it would be “unprecedented” for the federal government to remove an object from its collection and send it somewhere else.“The space shuttle Discovery is not on loan to the Smithsonian from NASA,” the message read. “Ownership was transferred to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.”[...]“What kind of message does it send to the American people when Republicans cut Medicaid and nutrition assistance funding that people rely on, while simultaneously authorizing $85 million in taxpayer dollars to move a space shuttle halfway across the country?” Kaine said. “This ridiculous transfer would make Americans pay a $30 fee to view a shuttle that they can see for free right now in Chantilly [Virginia].”
This is nothing more than a grab for bragging rights!
It's all so appalling!
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