Duffy Approves Moving a Space Shuttle to Houston

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has approved moving a space shuttle to Houston in accordance with language in the reconcilation act. NASA will only confirm that a decision was made, not what it is.  Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), however, issued a press release thanking Duffy and since he introduced legislation to move Space Shuttle Discovery to Johnson Space Center the implication seems clear.  Discovery is currently at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Chantilly, VA. The NASM says it owns Discovery and has not been contacted by NASA.

The reconciliation bill, officially the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), was signed into law on July 4 (P.L. 119-21). The NASA section was crafted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. It requires the NASA Administrator within 30 days of the bill’s enactment to “identify a space vehicle” to transfer to a NASA field center “involved in the administration of the Commercial Crew Program” that has flown into space, carried astronauts, and is selected with the concurrence of a nonprofit entity designated by the Administrator.

The 30 days expired on Sunday. Cornyn issued a press release yesterday thanking Duffy for his “approval of a retired NASA space shuttle to be moved to a non-profit near the Johnson Space Center.”  Cornyn’s statement itself doesn’t mention which space shuttle, but a background section notes that “congressional intent” is clear that it should be Discovery.

NASA declined to provide any details, telling SpacePolicyOnline.com only that “The acting Administrator has made an identification. We have no further public statement at this time.”

In 2004, a year after the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy killed all seven astronauts aboard as they reentered Earth’s atmosphere after a 16-day mission, President George W. Bush directed that the space shuttle program be terminated once construction of the International Space Station was completed. The final shuttle flight, STS-135, was in July 2011.

As the program was winding down, NASA went through a laborious process to determine where the four surviving space shuttle orbiters would be permanently located (like Columbia, Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed in a 1986 accident that killed all seven astronauts).  NASA received expressions of interest from 29 organizations and formed a team of civil servants to review the applications and make recommendations. On April 12, 2011, then-Administrator Charlie Bolden announced the selections. Of the three shuttles that had flown to space, Discovery would go to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Atlantis to Kennedy Space Center, and Endeavour to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The fourth, Enterprise, was a test vehicle that never made a spaceflight and went to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.

In response to complaints from “some members of Congress who represent geographic regions that will not receive an orbiter” and raised concerns that “NASA did not follow the law and instead allowed politics to dictate the results,” NASA’s Office of Inspector General reviewed the process. Its August 2011 report found “the decisions regarding Orbiter placement were the result of an Agency-created process that emphasized above all other considerations locating the Orbiters in places where the most people would have the opportunity to view them. The Agency was not required to and did not consider a location’s ties to the Space Shuttle Program but, as directed by the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, considered whether the chosen locations had a connection to NASA’s human spaceflight program.”

In an April 10 press release about the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act,” S. 1403, Cornyn nonetheless asserted that the Obama Administration’s decision “unlawfully ignored” the 2010 NASA Authorization Act in order to “keep Houston from getting one of the shuttles.” The press release said Discovery should be moved because it “is the only shuttle still owned by the federal government and able to be transferred to Houston.” Sen. Cruz is a co-sponsor of S. 1403. Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) has an identical bill in the House (H.R. 4065). Those bills haven’t passed, however, only the reconciliation bill, which is not as specific.

The two specially-built Shuttle Carrier Aircraft used to transport shuttle orbiters from one location to another are decomissioned so how Discovery would get from Virginia to Houston is uncertain. The reconciliation bill allocates $85 million for the transfer, of which $5 million is for transportation.

Last month during Senate Appropriations Committee consideration of the FY2026 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill that funds NASA, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said he asked NASA and the Smithsonian how much it would cost and the answer was $305 million. He said it isn’t a transfer, but a “heist by Texas because they lost the competition 12 years ago.”

A spokesperson for the National Air and Space Museum told SpacePolicyOnline.com today that they haven’t been contacted by NASA and the Smithsonian “owns” Discovery and “holds it and all of its collections in trust for the nation.”

The Smithsonian Institution owns the Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery and holds it and all of its collections in trust for the nation. The Smithsonian has a unique responsibility to properly manage, preserve, and make accessible the collections in its care for current and future generations to appreciate, enjoy, and study. The Smithsonian carries out its stewardship responsibilities through systematic collections management policies, procedures, and plans based on professional and discipline-specific best practices.  The Smithsonian will carefully evaluate any request to move Discovery in light of these obligations. — National Air and Space Museum spokesperson

A July 24, 2025 Congressional Research Service report points out that the “2012 agreements between NASA and the Smithsonian memorializing the transfer of Discovery state that upon receiving the orbiter, the Smithsonian took ownership of Discovery.”  The agreements say NASA would have the first opportunity to reacquire Discovery if the Smithsonian decided it no longer wanted the vehicle, but “are silent about any authority of NASA to reacquire Discovery outside of such instances.”

Why NASA declines to say they are transferring Discovery is a mystery and Cornyn didn’t specify Discovery in his statement, only noting in a background section that congressional intent is clear. Cornyn did say a retired space shuttle would be moved and the reconciliation bill requires that it be a space vehicle that has carried astronauts to space. The only other shuttles that have flown astronauts to space are Atlantis at KSC and Endeavour at the California Science Center. It seems unlikely NASA would take a shuttle from one NASA center and give it to another. What would be involved in the government taking back Endeavour from the California Science Center is unclear.

 

This article has been updated.