Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Republicans of Texas, want the space shuttle Discovery to be moved to Space Center Houston from its current location at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington D.C. The proposal is, putting it mildly, controversial.
The dispute started shortly after the space shuttle fleet was retired in 2011. The orbiter fleet, plus the space shuttle Enterprise, were distributed to various venues where they could be visited by tourists as historical artifacts.
The shuttles are on display in the current locations. Shuttle Atlantis is at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Shuttle Discovery is at -- the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Shuttle Endeavour is at the California Science Center. And Shuttle Enterprise is at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
There is a conspicuous absence of a flown shuttle at Space Center Houston, near the Johnson Spaceflight Center, the home of Mission Control. Texans, including politicians, expressed the suspicion that the omission was deliberate, meant as a slight against the Lone Star State by then President Barack Obama. Obama disputed that accusation at the time.
As a consolation prize, Space Center Houston was gifted a display model of the shuttle, dubbed Independence. The shuttle replica is on display in a plaza outside of the museum.
Fast forward over a decade. Cruz and Cornyn included a mandate to move the space shuttle Discovery from Washington D.C. to Space Center Houston in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. The measure gives the Smithsonian, which runs the center, 18 months to obey the mandate.
The Smithsonian has pushed back. It told Congress earlier this month in a letter that it would need to be partially disassembled to be relocated.
Space.com reports the letter said the total cost "could range from $120 million to $150 million" which is "far higher than the $85 million" that is yet to be distributed from the bill. It notes that the estimate "also doesn't include the cost of constructing a new facility in Houston to serve as the space shuttle's new home."
Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), where the Discovery is currently located, have expressed the fear that the need to take apart the Discovery for transport would permanently damage the orbiter.
Cruz and Cornyn, along with Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), have decided to play hardball. They have sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate alleging that the Smithsonian has improperly used federal funds to lobby Congress and influence journalists to oppose the move. Legal wrangling is bound to ensue.
The spectacle of powerful politicians attempting to purloin a used space shuttle orbiter for their own state is starting to get unseemly. No matter what the circumstances of how the final resting places of the shuttle fleet was chosen, the high cost of moving the Discovery and the risk of damaging the vehicle does not seem to be worth the fuss.
The shuttle is part of the storied history of space exploration. But, down the road from Space Center Houston, the future history of space exploration is being written at the SpaceX Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.
Elon Musk's rocket company is testing the Starship, the vehicle that promises to open up the moon, Mars and beyond to human civilization.
Part of the SpaceX test program will be to catch and land a Starship upper stage with the so-called Mechazilla "chopsticks" in the same way that the Super Heavy first stage has already been caught and landed several times.
Once that Starship is captured and SpaceX engineers examine it, Space Center Houston would seem to be the perfect place to display it.
Imagine, while driving down NASA Road 1, seeing the gleaming, stainless steel edifice of a spacecraft in which people will land on the moon and Mars. It would drive foot traffic and increase ticket sales unlike any exhibit at any museum in human history.
Even better, Musk, public spirited and eager to please politicians who hand out lucrative contracts, might be persuaded to finance the transportation and display of the Starship out of his own pocket. Cruz and Cornyn, who ought to be frugal with the public purse, should jump at the chance.
The two Texas senators, eager as they are to snag a flown space shuttle orbiter for Texas, should drop the effort and go after the greater prize of a flown Starship. They will have props both for statesmanship and for the economic and cultural benefits such a decision will garner for Texas.
It's a win/win proposition all around.
Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled "Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?" as well as "The Moon, Mars and Beyond" and, most recently, "Why is America Going Back to the Moon?" He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.