# This is just wrong - no shuttle in Houston **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 12, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126 "2011-04-12T18:31:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/1 "2011-04-12T18:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Houston Will Not Get Space Shuttle > 21 Museums, Centers Want Shuttles > > POSTED: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 > UPDATED: 1:16 pm CDT April 12, 2011 > > HOUSTON – Houston will not get one of the retired space shuttles once the program ends this summer. > Twenty-one museums and centers around the country put in bids for the spaceships. NASA announced the winners Tuesday on the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch in 1981. > > Atlantis will go to the Kennedy Space Center, Discovery will go to the Smithsonian and Endeavor will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum in New York will get the prototype Enterprise, which has been housed at the Smithsonian. [http://www.click2houston.com/news/27516647/detail.html#](http://www.click2houston.com/news/27516647/detail.html#) Pure politics of the lousiest kind. Houston should have been designated the first place to get a shuttle and everyone else could fight over the other two. What the fuck did the California Science Center do to get a shuttle? Nothing except grease pockets is all I can see. Greedy bastard politicians. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/2 "2011-04-12T18:35:03Z")
I thought Houston would be a lock as well. I think the New York one should be eliminated - it’s hard to justify having two so close together, and none on the west coast. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/3 "2011-04-12T18:35:18Z")
The article mentioned that this was due to politics. The OP said this was due to politics. What are the politics? ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/4 "2011-04-12T18:42:22Z")
I’m very surprised the Museum of Flight in Seattle didn’t get one. Didn’t they build a structure specifically for a shuttle? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/5 "2011-04-12T18:43:36Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > I’m very surprised the Museum of Flight in Seattle didn’t get one. Didn’t they build a structure specifically for a shuttle? A hangar? We’ve got one of those in Indianapolis. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/6 "2011-04-12T18:50:57Z")
Not only is Houston not getting a shuttle, the flight simulator used to train astronauts for shuttle flights, now in Houston at the Johnson Space Center, is comming to Chicago. [http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/No-space-shuttle-for-Chicago-s-Adler-Planetarium-1333231.php](http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/No-space-shuttle-for-Chicago-s-Adler-Planetarium-1333231.php) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/7 "2011-04-12T18:55:27Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > A hangar? We’ve got one of those in Indianapolis. [They seem to have gone to a bit more trouble than that.](http://www.amusingplanet.com/2010/08/how-to-display-retired-space-shuttle.html) > [@](#): > > “The Museum of Flight’s glass-enclosed “Human Spaceflight Gallery,” which the Seattle, Washington museum pledged $12 million and broken ground in June 2010 to build, even before knowing if they will receive an orbiter.” Hope they had a plan B for that space. Now that I think of it, I’m surprised Wright Patterson didn’t make the cut either. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/8 "2011-04-12T18:59:56Z")
Why is this in the Pit? The topic doesn’t seem to be very controversial. I really doubt a flamefest is going to break out in the thread… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/9 "2011-04-12T19:01:00Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Not only is Houston not getting a shuttle, the flight simulator used to train astronauts for shuttle flights, now in Houston at the Johnson Space Center, is comming to Chicago. > > [http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/No-space-shuttle-for-Chicago-s-Adler-Planetarium-1333231.php](http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/No-space-shuttle-for-Chicago-s-Adler-Planetarium-1333231.php) Cool. I built a very small part of those simulators, so now I’m going to have to go to Chicago to see if my part is there. And I wonder who is getting the toilet simulator. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/10 "2011-04-12T19:01:13Z")
Damn, no shuttle in Chicago. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/11 "2011-04-12T19:06:46Z")
I hate to point out the obvious in saying that the logic used in the OP is a little twisted. The logic is that Houston should get a shuttle because Houston has been very important to space missions housing mission control and already having a museum with a Saturn V rocket on display and all that. That sounds good until you ask how Houston got all that stuff to begin with. The answer is that is was a political favor on a much larger scale than any of this. Talk about entitlement!!! Let some other part of the country have something related to space for God’s sake. Houston, Florida, and Ala-fuckin’-Bama already took most of the important stuff. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/12 "2011-04-12T19:07:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Cool. I built a very small part of those simulators, so now I’m going to have to go to Chicago to see if my part is there. Very cool! Can you tell us which part you built? > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And I wonder who is getting the toilet simulator. PLEASE tell me there really IS a toilet simulator. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/13 "2011-04-12T19:09:47Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Houston should have been designated the first place to get a shuttle and everyone else could fight over the other two. Minor nitpick, but Houston should have been the _second place_ to get a shuttle after Kennedy Space Center. Everybody else should have had to fight over the other one. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/14 "2011-04-12T19:11:17Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Pure politics of the lousiest kind. Houston should have been designated the first place to get a shuttle and everyone else could fight over the other two. Why? Both Kennedy and the Smithsonian seem to me to have more of a claim than Houston, especially since both of them can incorporate into major preexisting tourist attractions (the first of which makes money). After that, I’d put one on the west coast for balance, and then let the rest duke it out. Houston certainly has a claim, but it’s not like they’re the one and only place. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/15 "2011-04-12T19:11:38Z")
Well, since this IS the pit and I am already going to hell a dozen times over I will point out Texas already has the Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/16 "2011-04-12T19:14:34Z")
So its politics eh? So, remind me again why the control bases are in Houston again? Oh, right, the VP at the time was the influential Lyndon Johnson and NASA had to pander to him to get funding. Politics you say? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/17 "2011-04-12T19:33:18Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > What the fuck did the California Science Center do to get a shuttle? Well, the orbiters were actually BUILT in Southern California, so it’s kind of appropriate that at least one should come back home to stay. Experimental aircraft and spacecraft were designed, constructed, and tested on the West Coast for decades before LBJ decided to shovel a little pork to Texas. What conceivable reason was there for sticking Mission Control in Houston besides politics? ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/18 "2011-04-12T19:39:36Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > What conceivable reason was there for sticking Mission Control in Houston besides politics? Maybe the corrosive salt air and hurricanes? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/19 "2011-04-12T20:07:04Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Well, the orbiters were actually BUILT in Southern California, so it’s kind of appropriate that at least one should come back home to stay. Not to mention that Edwards AFB was the landing site of like one third of the missions. What a stupid fucking OP. ---
**Author:** ![3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/47e85d/32.png) [@3\_20\_59\_or\_bust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3_20_59_or_bust)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126/20 "2011-04-12T20:13:56Z")
Well, McMinnville didn’t get the Shuttle, but they are opening up a bitching Waterpark this summer! [Woot!](http://www.evergreenmuseum.org/waterpark/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-just-wrong-no-shuttle-in-houston/578126.md?page=2)