NASA nominee 'committed' to uprooting Shuttle Discovery for Houston trophy piece

US President Donald Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, is "committed to move the Space Shuttle Discovery to Houston," according to the office of Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). The statement came following a meeting between Isaacman and Cornyn, in which the pair discussed NASA's role in keeping the US ahead of …

[Anonymous Coward]

Unclear why they want to hide a shuttle where nobody will ever see it comparatively speaking.

[LBJsPNS]

Something about libs and winning, I gather.

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF does it have to do with liberals and conservatives? Some people (you) need to get a life.

[LBJsPNS]

How to say you know jack about the current controversy regarding moving the shuttle without saying you know jack about the current controversy regarding moving the shuttle.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

How difficult could it be for a force from Washington to sweep through the confederacy south, dragging a Shuttle and destroying everything in their path ?

We could call it Operation Sherman

[Snapper]

I'll Grant you that one!

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

My knowledge of US Civil War battles is based purely on - if there was a tank named after them, they were presumably on the winning side ?

[Ken Shabby]

Yes, don’t Stonewall him

[BartyFartsLast]

Some people, you, need to pay attention to current affairs.

[lnLog]

ah, language

You can be committed to the undertaking and make sure that every check is made and every eventuallity is considered to get all the documentation needed to get the final cost. 'i'm sorry there just is not the budget for the proposed move'

[Wily Veteran]

He would say that, wouldn't he.

If Isaacman shows any reluctance to go along with this harebrained scheme, Cruz and Cornyn will torpedo his confirmation.

[MachDiamond]

Re: He would say that, wouldn't he.

"If Isaacman shows any reluctance to go along with this harebrained scheme, Cruz and Cornyn will torpedo his confirmation."

If Jared is in favor of moving Discovery, I'll write a letter to my Senators to let them know I feel it a huge waste of money and to vote against Jared's confirmation.

The Apollo capsule in London or San Diego would be far easier to move. Texas has made noises about ceceding from the US so maybe they shouldn't get anything at all. I doubt they could pull it off, but to talk about it is enough to hold back.

[Flocke Kroes]

Re: He would say that, wouldn't he.

You missed the important bit: "according to the office of Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)."

Perhaps the quote itself was intended to sabotage Isaacman until a candidate that lives up to the ideals of Sean Duffy can be identified.

[Jon Bar]

Re: He would say that, wouldn't he.

Even better - the Houston Visitor's Center already has three spacecraft that carried astronauts to space and returned safely. Mercury 9, Gemini V and Apollo 17. They're already there, and they meet the requirements of the bill.

[Clay P. Igion]

Re: He would say that, wouldn't he.

My understanding is that those craft are "on loan" from the Smithsonian.

Clearly, the Smithsonian simply needs to call the loan due and charge a suitable interest on the value of the loaned property. Along with late fees applied if they're not returned in time, this could easily cover the cost difference for transporting and housing the Shuttle properly.

[that one in the corner]

Re: He would say that, wouldn't he.

The Smithsonian should demand that the loaned items be returned and get at least one loaded onto a flatbed.

Drive it away, park out of sight - then offer to let Houston have it back, charging the full $85 million for the tricky transportation problem of turning the flatbed around. They can then use that money for something sensible, like giving the Shuttle a good polish for the benefit of the visitors (and sneak the remaining $84 milion back to NASA).

[Jon Bar]

Re: He would say that, wouldn't he.

Virtually all the legitimate artifacts there are on loan from the Smithsonian. When NASA no longer wishes to hang onto something (like, maybe, a space shuttle) it deeds it to someone else, and the Smithsonian has first dibs. I think the only shuttle NASA has any claim to is at the Kennedy visitor's center. And that one is actually somewhere it could be moved from in one piece.

[Brave Coward]

US space ambitions shrinking

From aiming to Mars to aiming to Houston...

[Paul Herber]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

Bruno Mars and Whitney Houston?

Back in the 70s it would have been Freddie Mercury and Chicago (Transit Authority)

[wolfetone]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

And even then they'd have ended up in Boston.

[Aladdin Sane]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

Could be worse, they could end up in Kansas.

[wolfetone]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

Carry on, my wayward son.

[KarMann]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

No, I don't think we're there anymore.

[Aladdin Sane]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

So you're saying we should draw a line under it?

[GloriousVictoryForThePeople]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

Dems should propose a bill to explicitly prohibit SpaceX from attempting to land the ISS in Texas in 2030.

[Will Godfrey]

Re: US space ambitions shrinking

Sneaky.

I'm sure there are a lot of us that would approve of this move.

[coredump]

$150M ?

One wonders what NASA could productively do with $150M.

I mean, I expect it wouldn't punch a ticket to Mars, nor even the moon, but surely there's a better purpose for that kind of money than shuttling a museum piece around the country.

[IGotOut]

Re: $150M ?

They could do science stuff, but these days in Medieval USA, that seems pointless

[MachDiamond]

Re: $150M ?

"They could do science stuff, but these days in Medieval USA, that seems pointless"

The US is run by a mob of blood sucking lawyers. What they hell would they know about science?

[WonkoTheSane]

Re: $150M ?

Dear Leader is worse than a mere blood-sucking lawyer. He's an ESTATE AGENT.

[Flocke Kroes]

Re: estate agent

If you can remember back to 2015 Dems wanted Trump's tax returns expecting to find tax fraud. Although the documents were not published we did get the gist: the records were so poor that proving fraud would be difficult. Trump had lost so much money that he did not owe any tax and wouldn't have to pay any for years. He was clearly a failure as an estate agent. Five bankruptcies showed he was unable to run casinos at a profit. His real skill is doing something stupid until someone pays him to stop.

[LogicGate]

Re: estate agent

However, his lifestyle does not match his tax return, and that is how they got Al Capone.

Sadly, today good ole Al owns the FBI, the Courts, the Senate, the Congress, and what is left of the White House

[Flocke Kroes]

Re: $150M ?

ESCAPADE, twice more.

[herman]

Re: $150M ?

I’ll move the thing for half that

[spold]

I guess if they snapped a wing and a wheel off and sent that it would be cheaper and everyone would be happy?

(Engineering Judgement of Solomon).

[Doctor Syntax]

For the judgement of Solomon you'd have to split it in half. And this lot would probably accept that.

I suppose they could then display it as two sagittal sections, an accepted approach to museum display in biology.

[Anonymous Coward]

snapped a wing

I don't suppose they could send the collected fragments of the Columbia instead? It matches the criteria of "space vehicle", "has flown into space", and "carried astronauts."

And at least it's already been pre-dissembled enabling easier transport. :-(

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: snapped a wing

I don't suppose they could send the collected fragments of the Columbia instead? It matches the criteria of "space vehicle", "has flown into space", and "carried astronauts."

With the added bonus you might get a bit of astronaut included gratis.

[Scene it all]

Re: snapped a wing

Yes, an appropriate way to commemorate a badly designed spacecraft that killed two crews: put it in Texas.

[Aladdin Sane]

Re: snapped a wing

Could ask the Aussies for the bits of Skylab they have.

[KRCaddis]

Re: snapped a wing

I was going to suggest Challenger, but Columbia fits just as well. Might get a better deal on the Ruskie Xerox copy that never flew about now.

[MachDiamond]

"I guess if they snapped a wing and a wheel off and sent that it would be cheaper and everyone would be happy?"

Just prop the rest up on breeze (cinder) blocks? How completely redneck.

[SnailFerrous]

The easy solution

Transfer sovereignty of the few hundred square feet of land where Discovery currently is to Texas and the city of Houston. Job complete and probably a few million in change left over to spend on something useful.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: The easy solution

I don't think that the failed state that is the US does useful stuff any more.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Rubber bands

Its kept near an airfield right... so you get a couple of iron stakes buried at one end of the runway.. tie a shed load of rubber bands between the 2, then pull them all the way back to the other end of the runway, slot the shuttle in and release the rubber bands.... the shuttle will then take off and it can be flown all the way to Houston.

Or more slightly more sensible (booo) , use the civil service method of making sure it will take another 3-4 years to get all the approvals and paperwork done by which time the orange pumpkin will have left office and forgotten all about it.(come to think of it.. thats more than likely happened already)

[Caver_Dave]

Re: Rubber bands

Serious comment here.

I was thinking about towing it, as it is a glider after all.

[John Robson]

Re: Rubber bands

It's an absolutely terrible glider.

Glide ratio for a glider: 50:1

For a commercial jet: 20:1

For a helicopter with a failed engine: 4:1

The Shuttle: it topped out at about 4.5:1 at subsonic speeds, 2:1 supersonic.

Partly because of this terrible ration it landed at about 215mph, which is substantially higher than the ~160mph a commercial jet could handle.

And that ignores any interaction between the shuttle and the jet exhausts... let's put it as bluntly as the shuttle itself:

There's a reason they used a carrier aircraft rather than a tow vehicle.

[Flocke Kroes]

Re: Rubber bands

I tried finding some numbers. Shuttle dry mass: 78000kg, Glide ratio: 1:4.5, Dulles longest runway: 3505m, Aircraft rolling resistance: 0.009-0.035 (I picked the biggest because that eases landing without adding a cost to a normal launch)

Force required to accelerate mass of shuttle from 0 to landing speed in the length of the runway: 159kN

Wild guess at rolling resistance: 26kN

Force for level flight: 170kN

Antonov An-225 maximum thrust: 1377kN

Minor problems: The Discovery is old and likely brittle. No bets on it being able to take off in one piece let alone land. I do not know if there is a suitable hard point for a tow or if the vehicle would be stable while towed. The avionics have not been active for over a decade and might catch fire if powered up. I used the full length of the runway. In real life you should subtract the lengths of both aircraft and a tow rope long enough so the jet engines do not blow the orbiter to bits. No An-225s available for the time being. (My first try was an A380 with 341kN maximum thrust. Probably too small for the task.)

[Peter Gathercole]

Re: Rubber bands

Could they not create (if an original is no longer availabe) a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft? I'm sure there must still be a few cargo 747s around that could be used, even though they've been retired from passenger duties.

The capability was there so that if a Shuttle was planned to land, or was diverted to Edwards Airforce Base, it could be returned to Florida to be refurbished for re-use. Looking at the Wikipedia page, an SCA was also meant to be used if a shuttle landed outside of the US.

[Noram]

Re: Rubber bands

There were, from memory only two shuttle carrier aircraft, they required massive alterations and one has been dismantled for spares to keep another 747 NASA runs, whilst the other has been retired and I think is on loan to a musuem,

Even if they were still complete, the airframes are well over 50 years old now, as I think they were modified back in the 70's.

The cost of adapting an aircraft fresh, even if they've still got a full set of workable designs is huge, and you need an airframe that is in good enough condition to cope with the extra load, I suspect most of the remaining 747's aren't.

Which means potentially starting with a fresh airframe and fresh untested design, and from what I remember one of the reasons they used the 747 specifically was it's wing position/height which might make it harder to do it with a more modern airframe.

Then there is the human problem, I don't know if there are any of the pilots who were qualified and trained to pilot the modified 747 are still around and medically fit to fly, so potentially you'd need to look at training them

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Rubber bands

It says "committed to move the Space Shuttle Discovery to Houston," it doesn't say anything about arriving in one piece

[Zuagroasta]

Any volunteers to be Robert the Bruce to Red Cornyn?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

A defining moment for the President

"We choose to move a Shuttle to Houston in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are stupid"

On a similar mote, might I suggest a presidential motorcade through Dallas ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: A defining moment for the President

... might I suggest a presidential motorcade through Dallas?

Hmm ...

Think of the consequences.

ie: J.D. Vance would have to step in as POTUS.

Definitely a step in the wrong direction.

.

[Winkypop]

Re: A defining moment for the President

My goodness, the book depository is busy today, hey Cletus…

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: A defining moment for the President

I think Texas has solved the problem by simply burning the books

[frankvw]

Re: A defining moment for the President

I agree: JD Vance stepping in as POTUS is the only scenario I can think of that's worse than the current one. He's got Trump-sized ambition, but combined with cunning, actual political skills and a good measure of deviousness. The entire world would suffer. So no matter how painful as the orange toddler is, I hope he will last long enough to see the end of his tenure, the MAGA voters can enjoy the full effect of their votes and JD has to run for the job from outside the oval office.

On the other hand, if he ends up having to finish the Donald J. Trump Memorial Ballroom himself, it would probably make a good exhibition space for a space shuttle, given the proposed (and ever-increasing) size of it.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: A defining moment for the President

"We choose to move a Shuttle to Houston in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they we are stupid."

I don't doubt JFK is turning over in his grave over the direction of the US generally and its political life in particular has taken since his demise.

[Uncle Slacky]

Re: A defining moment for the President

Not to mention how his nephew turned out.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Astronauts

just a "space vehicle" that "has flown into space" and "carried astronauts."

IF, Jeff Bezos' "Astroladies" who participated in the Blue Origin NS-31 sub orbital flight can be deemed to be "Astronauts" and that they reached "space", then, the craft they used will fit the bill.

What's more, the very same people can be very powerful voices to advocate on the idea. Strong enough to Trump to say that was his idea all along

[Anonymous Coward]

Cruise Missile

Strap Cruz to a missile, reach LEO.

Land it in Houston.

Job done

[KarMann]

Re: Cruise Missile

For certain values of 'land'.

[LogicGate]

Re: Cruise Missile

That would make it a Cruz-Missile, which means that it's use might be restricted

[Ashentaine]

Hopefully...

...Isaacman follows the proper political procedure with this.

And by that I mean dallying around for years, sucking up money while delaying the project with minor issues and red tape, until all parties involved in wanting to move the shuttle are out of office and the whole thing is quietly smothered as a budget line item to be written off, once nobody remembers why it was to be done in the first place.

[ajadedcynicaloldfart]

Isaacman?

So Trump approved of him? (Just like he approved of Melon Suk). Then he rejected Mr Isaacman, (Just like he did with Melon).

Cue a meeting with Trump where Mr Isaacman was told what was expected of him and could he please pass on a couple of brown envelopes containing "campaign donations"?

Isaacman, being a businessman, recognised this for what it was (blackmail) and did as he was told.

Result, he is now Trumps puppet and will carry on doing as he is told forever, or else.....