Did anyone think this post had the same two words in the title? Shuttle Shuttle. Shuffle Shuffle. Shuttle Shuffle. Glance quickly, they looks almost the same ;)
Anyway. With my apologies to non-Texans, or even just non-Houstonians, who may be supporting any of the current fundraisers in New York City, Austin, Seattle, Clinton, or Chicago to bring Shuttles to their areas... but today, I've joined and also choose to highlight the cause that webmasters from Space Center Houston have brought to the Lonestar public!
As I've discussed before, NASA is seeking permanent homes for the soon-to-be retired Shuttle fleet.
At last mention, there were 21 solid bids for four Shuttles (Enterprise, Atlantis, Discovery & Endeavour), with the only certainty being that Shuttle Discovery would be sent to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Houston, according to the coalition of letter-writing, fund-raising supporters, should definitely be the keeper of one of these great national treasures, as detailed by the website: Bring The Shuttle Home.
Their first page is already humorously out-of-date, since they mention the program ending in 2010. With NASA's newest change to the official Launch Schedule, the Shuttle program is now due to end in early 2011.
From the first Shuttle launch in April 1981 to March 2011 when Shuttle Endeavour makes her final landing, the American Space Shuttle Program will have spanned one-month-under 30 years!
Agreed.
I've also updated (again!) my "Final Five Shuttle Missions" post and moved it to the space below this post for anyone who wants to check the new details.
If you are part of another bring-the-Shuttle-to-my-city effort, and choose not to participate in the Houston effort, I still say, best of luck! Regardless of where they make their final appearances, we all know that many of us will travel wherever necessary to see them once they are "parked" at their new permanent homes!
An aside –
The last flight is certainly fraught with emotion from every corner, but you'd never know it from this view of the STS-134 astronauts, who posed for perhaps the most laid back official crew photo I've ever seen! (Seriously, why didn't they just hand them cigars and martinis??)
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