Seattle seeks space shuttle, decision in April

We should learn next month whether Seattle will become the permanent home for one of the retiring space shuttles. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden revealed this week that a decision regarding placement for the retiring orbiters will be announced Tuesday, April 12. The Museum of Flight in Seattle is one of 27 institutions that are vying for one of the shuttles.

NASA administrator Charlie Bolden spoke during a Black
History Month program Feb. 5 at the Museum of Flight
in Seattle. Bolden will announce next month if the museum will
become the permanent home for a retiring space shuttle.
Photo: Ted Heutter, Museum of Flight.

The date was not just pulled out of the vacuum of space. April 12 will be the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle launch and the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight by cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin.

“We believe that our mission to be the foremost educational air and space museum in the country, along with Washington state’s extensive contributions to aerospace innovation, make us uniquely qualified to be the final home for one of the shuttles,” said Museum of Flight President and CEO Douglas King. “We are eager to hear NASA’s decision.”

The Museum of Flight may have a leg up on some of the other institutions in the running. Bolden, a former shuttle commander, visited the museum last month and was courted by King and former museum CEO Bonnie Dunbar, herself a retired shuttle astronaut who now devotes her full time to landing a shuttle, working through the museum’s affiliate organization Wings Over Washington.

Former astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, left, and Washington Lt. Governor
Brad Owen applaud during the groundbreaking ceremony last June
for the Museum of Flight's Space Gallery. The gallery, set to be finished
in July, would be home to a space shuttle if NASA awards one to
the museum. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

In addition, work continues apace on the museum’s new space gallery. Ground was broken on the project last June and, as the Seattle Times reported this week, the framework of the climate-controlled facility’s huge glass front wall went up this week. The 15,500 square-foot gallery, which would be the shuttle’s home in Seattle, is expected to be finished in July.

The shuttle bid also has been supported by the entire Washington state congressional delegation, the State Legislature, and Governor Christine  Gregoire. Congressman Norm Dicks, one of the effort’s most enthusiastic supporters said, “We are cautiously optimistic. As a delegation, we have worked this effort as diligently and thoroughly as possible. We have our fingers crossed!”

If the museum is awarded a space shuttle, it will be part of an exhibit that will not only celebrate the shuttle program, but also look toward the future of space travel while serving as a learning tool to the nearly 140,000 students who participate in education programs at the museum each year.