White House Investigates Whether to Chop Space Shuttle Discovery Into Pieces

"On October 11, 2012, NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery embarked on its arduous, 12-mile journey from an airplane hangar to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The iconic spacecraft had just survived its final "flight" while strapped to the roof of a Boeing 747. Officials went to extreme efforts to prevent the Shuttle from being dismantled during transport. The streets of LA were too narrow, for instance, forcing officials to temporarily remove traffic lights. Around 400 trees lining the city's streets even had to be cut down to make way. (Around 1,000 trees were eventually replanted along the route to replace them.)"

"Now NASA is preparing to move Discovery, which flew 39 flights between 1984 and 2011, from the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to the Space Center Museum in Houston, Texas - and this time, chopping it into pieces for the trip is entirely on the table. Baked into president Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill," which was signed into law this summer, was a provision by Texas senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to spend $85 million for the relocation."

On October 11, 2012, Space Shuttle Discovery traveled twelve miles through Los Angeles from an airplane hangar to the California Science Center while mounted on a Boeing 747. Officials temporarily removed traffic lights and cut about 400 trees to accommodate the route, with roughly 1,000 replacement trees later planted. NASA plans to relocate Discovery from the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to the Space Center Museum in Houston, with an $85 million relocation provision included in recent federal legislation. The White House Office of Management and Budget is considering disassembling the orbiter for transport. Disassembly raises concerns about potential significant, irreparable damage to the aluminum frame, approximately 24,000 ceramic underside tiles, and around 2,000 thermal insulation blankets.

Read at Futurism