Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill bankrolls $85M Space Shuttle shuffle Lurking in the text contained within the One Big Beautiful Bill, which was passed by the US Senate yesterday, is an $85 million allocation for shifting a "space vehicle" to a new location, widely interpreted as a move of the retired Space Shuttle Discovery orbiter from Virginia to Houston. The One Big Beautiful Bill is the …
I came here to comment on the 'Gulf of Mexico' thing. But someone (you!) beat me to it! :-)
Odd how the ex-British colonies have decided to rename the place after an Italian explorer (Amerigo Vespucci). I suppose the whims of Tango Man must be observed.
Yes, what is it about Lego versions of such space related items? I've seen picture on El Reg of the 747 and the Shuttle and neither of them had me reaching for my wallet.
I am a model maker and have been for over 60 years. When I think about a model the first thing that comes to mind is "Does it look like the original?" A little work and sometimes a lot of research will go into making the model as near as possible to the real thing.
With these Lego kits the limitations of the materials used to make them, i.e. the bricks, detracts from the finished appearance to such an extent that I would never contemplate buying one. They are just odd looking.
I have made a Revell 1/72 model of the Space Shuttle, it's big and really looks impressive. I had to finish it with automotive spray cans as even my expensive air brush was not up to the job.
>When I think about a model the first thing that comes to mind is "Does it look like the original?"
That's not really the point of Lego
You could make a Lego kit containing nothing but Space shuttle specific custom parts - but then the legions of Lego Minifig warriors woukld come and get you.
Not a chance.
$85 million barely buys you a poxy F-35 these days.
The unit cost of an F-35 varies depending on the variant and production lot. As of July 2024, the average flyaway costs are: $82.5 million for the F-35A, $109 million for the F-35B, and $102.1 million for the F-35C. These figures represent the cost to acquire the aircraft, excluding other costs like maintenance and upgrades.
Could you build another, working space shuttle for $85 million ?
A model could be built for much less. All it has to do is look the part and stand up under it's own weight.
All of the wrangling was done on where the remaining Shuttles would go as the program was wound down. Lots of arguments occurred and lots of money was spent. There no need to start all of it up again because Houston feels butt-hurt over not getting one. They've got SpaceX or is that not a good thing?
The Russians had 4 jet engines on the Buran atmospheric test craft - as per the example at the museum in Speyer...
https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/13/geeks_guide_speyer_and_sinsheim
Whereas with the shuttle, Enterprise was just a glider, launched off the back of the 747 ferry craft
It's in California which is of course an evil CommieMuslimFailedState which doesn't deserve a Space shuttle
It can easily be sailed down the American Ocean, through the American canal in Americanama, and into the gulf Of america, before arriving at Galveston and being put in the back of a special constructed F150,000,000 pickup truck to the true home of American Space Stuff in Houston
@Yet Another Anonymous coward
"It's in California which is of course an evil CommieMuslimFailedState which doesn't deserve a Space shuttle"
Guessing it would cost more to employ people to wade through the shit filled streets to move it. Although they may be able to get some illegals to move it on the cheap.
Wikipedia has an interesting explanation of the locations of the retired Space Shuttles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_retirement
"Museums and other facilities not selected to receive an orbiter were disappointed. Elected officials representing Houston, Texas, location of the Johnson Space Center; and Dayton, Ohio, location of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, called for Congressional investigations into the selection process, though no such action was taken. While local and Congressional politicians in Texas questioned if partisan politics played a role in the selection, former JSC Director Wayne Hale wrote, "Houston didn't get an orbiter because Houston didn't deserve it", pointing to weak support from area politicians, media and residents, describing a "sense of entitlement"."
Because American Christianism, the base of the current administration, absolutely hates the Smithsonian. They always have. That hate was formalized by the World Christian Fundamentals Association in 1919 as part of the assault on institutions that taught “Darwinism” and “Great Deluge Denialism”. For over a century they’ve been attacking the Smithsonian at every opportunity as part of their interpretation of the “Great Work”. Cruz and Cornyn are deeply involved in all that fringe religious stuff. Cruz’s dad is an End Times preacher and major Republican fundraiser who had a message from Jesus that Ted was destined to lead the nation to their god. That’s the only reason Ted is involved in politics.
You know the whole conspiracy about the Smithsonian hiding evidence of giants from the public? That is all part of the same religiously motivated strategy to undermine science in general, and the Smithsonian in particular.
Anything that damages the Smithsonian is seen as a positive thing. It’s a really bad scene here in DC right now because of all this.
For a few million i bet there are companies who make props for movies who could knock something together which would convincing pass as a space shuttle and put that on display, saving 10s of millions of dollars and just sticking the one in Virginia in a hanger with a sheet over it, nothing to see here folks. Get those NASA engineers out of retirement who faked the moon landings to do it. LOL
For a few million i bet there are companies who make props for movies who could knock something together which would convincing pass as a space shuttle and put that on display, saving 10s of millions of dollars
At the visitor center (center because of where it is) in Florida there is a pair of SRBs and propellent tank, full scale standing outside. I think they are fibreglass round a wood frame.
The real Atlantis is inside, canted over so you can look at the underside.
It makes sense. The only reason Huston has _any_ relevance to the space program is because the TX senator got the admin building placed far far away from the actual operations in the first place. Pork in, Pork out.
As for the shuttle... might as well just smash it up with a hammer and be done with it.
....just CGI it.
"Store" it in a huge tank to "protect it from the environment" and add "viewing windows" along the side.
Not glass of course, that would let in "harmful UV". I'm sure Monitor technology could supply something...
Then you sell the real thing to a supervillain who's looking for something to steal satellites with.
On top of one of the 747s, you can go inside it
Endeavor is in California and is being set up in launch configuration in a new exhibit.
Human blobfish Rafael Cruz (as you're only allowed to use names assigned at birth) just wants it in Texas, even though it has nothing to do with Texas. His latest claim to "glory" is watching his amendment to stop states regulating AI go down 1-99, even he voted against it.
They had to make the language vague to get it past the parliamentarian, which is why it doesn't specify the shuttle. A perfect match would be to send the flown calamity capsule to Houston, it had a crew on it in space, if only one way
I'm wondering if moving the shuttle is really as difficult as is being suggested - much of this has been done before!
The Concorde that's in The National Aviation Museum in Scotland was landed at London City Airport, put on a barge for the run round the coast to Torness power station then moved on a specially constructed roadway to the museum site at a total cost of a fraction of the USD85M. The shuttle is a bit higher, but shorter and narrower, so there will be some issues with having to temporarily remove infrastructure for the road parts of the journey but that's not unusual for abnormal loads.
https://www.heritageconcorde.com/g-boaa-206
The one at East Fortune wasn't flight capable when the type was retired, it had been used as a parts bin for quite a while before that. Moved from Heathrow via road to the Thames, then sea to Torness and finally by road again to East Fortune.
Clearly the shuttle can't be flown anymore. Too long ago, too expensive to get it safe, even safe enough just to glide.
But we have a solution to this, as is done with old military aircraft - which can be much more easily made capable of ground runs.
So the Shuttle has wheels. We still have loads of engines, currently being wasted by the SLS program. Simply fill the payload bay with fuel bladders, stick some working engines in the back and drive it to Texas. You might have to take down a few stop signs and telegraph poles, trees, bridges, houses - but it'll be fine. Also, wouuld be nice to find out what the fuel economy is in town driving and at at motorway / freeway speeds...
It's the most practical solution. You know it makes sense.
Have you been listening to Cabin Pressure?
Of course I have.
Yellow car!
Thinking about it, Douglas Richardson would be the perfect person to pull this off. He's a steely-eyed missile man, if ever I saw one. He's got the Right Stuff, and would probably arrive at Houston with the shuttle full of top totty, who he'd picked up on the way. Although probably not a Scottish cricket team.
never mind the fact they want to cut medicare to millions , raise debt 3 trillion dollars and make large tax cuts for the richest , plus a bunch of items that give Furher Trump asbolute power and take the USA closer to a dictatorial regime. Yeah .. they got money for a squeaky tank parade for their Furher , they got money for stupid moves like this one , but for the poor ? They are getting it , cutting every type of help for them is an abomination , cutting funding to critical emergency agencies is stupid , cutting funding for science is stupid and on and on . This is but one symptom of the disease in the USA. It's a slow , on the air , suicide for all to see. Debt , dollar that tanks faster than the titanic , reputation .. The USA is falling in pieces and will probably never recover. Trust in the USA's signature is gone forever. They are dying of a self inflicted wound and noone should intervene. That's what they want , why stop them ?
@Jason Bloomberg
"I have wasted enough time and effort trying to explain it to Americans and am now moving on to manufacturing "told you so" T-shirts."
If you are smart about it you could increase your customers by selling to both sides. And even to non-MAGA but awake for the last near decade. Just dont specify what they were right about
I would think it trivial for somebody of your claimed intellectual stature to realise that I'm referring to the article that you commented on as the thing even you can't defend - hence why I stated that you were just throwing snide comments around instead of meaningfully engaging with what the article was actually about.
@ArrZarr
"I would think it trivial for somebody of your claimed intellectual stature to realise that I'm referring to the article that you commented on as the thing even you can't defend"
And I would have thought you would have the intellectual capacity to realise I am not defending it. Why would I? The problem here isnt that I "cant defend" what is in the article, the problem is you seem to think I would/could/should?
Care to explain?
I dunno mate, you're the one that collects godawful opinions like they're pokémon, then comes on here and defends shit like whatever the Republican party is sniffing this week or sucking up to Farage like he's your pointy-haired boss.
You (and JelliedEel) are the two that make Bob look reasonable by comparison, not that I've seen him around recently.
@ArrZarr
"I dunno mate, you're the one that collects godawful opinions like they're pokémon,"
Ahh, so you are wrong. You expect me to defend this mess because in your opinion I should. But I dont because I dont agree with it. So an intelligent person should be able to take their mental image which is obviously incorrect and consider adjusting it to get closer to reality. But will you do that?
"then comes on here and defends shit like whatever the Republican party is sniffing this week or sucking up to Farage like he's your pointy-haired boss."
And there again you demonstrate your mental image of me is completely wrong by saying Republican party and Farage. But would you be able to shift your mental image towards reality or will you cling to your straw man?
Of course if your mental image is wrong it does make me wonder what "godawful opinions" you think I hold. And how many of them are even real.
The latest published numbers for US government spending are from 2023 at $6.3 Trillion dollars. With that baseline, $85 Million dollars is around 1:75,000 of the spending.
Or to put it another way... Let's say you make a comfortable $120K per year. You pay a chunk of taxes, and that leaves you with $75k net earnings to pay your bills. In the context of your budget, this Space Shuttle expenditure would represent around $1 of your total available spending money.
Yeah, this is just rough math. But it also a 'so what' news story. In the context of US government spending, this isn't even the tip money on your daily coffee.
It's not about the money , it's about a move to punish the Smithsonian and take away from them an important piece of space history. They don't need to move it . It's perfectly fine where it is and millions visit every year. It's about self centered people that want to make a show. Republicans are not making america great again , they dismantle it piece by piece , the only one who truly benefits from this is Russia.
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