By U.S. REPS. GENE GREEN and JOHN CULBERSON
Last week, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden perplexed and frustrated the people of Houston by announcing that we will not receive one of the retiring space shuttle orbiters. Discovery will go to the Smithsonian, Atlantis to the Kennedy Space Center, Endeavour to the California Space Center and the test prototype Enterprise to the Intrepid Museum in New York City. Space City, USA, is going unrecognized for its great contributions to humanity and the progress of science.
For the last 50 years, Houston has been in the business of guiding Americans in space, and we’re proud of the vehicles that our men and women pilot into the unknown. Houston is home to treasured artifacts from earlier eras of NASA’s human space-flight program: The scorched capsules from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo days reside at Space Center Houston, where millions of tourists have marveled at the decades-old technology that took the human race to new heights.
Our city has shared in the triumphs and tragedies of the shuttle program. The people of Johnson Space Center, including the celebrated astronaut corps, are, after all, our friends and neighbors. We go to the same churches and shop in the same stores. We have rejoiced in their successes and mourned when they did not return.
An orbiter not coming home to rest at Space Center Houston is truly tragic and ignores the enduring legacy of Houston’s role in human space flight. The manned space program is synonymous with Houston, much like Detroit and the auto industry and Washington, D.C., and our federal government.
We are extremely disappointed and dismayed that it appears politics were allowed to play any role in what should have been a merit-based decision. New York and Los Angeles have contributed much to different areas of the space program, but neither has played the same role in history and in space flight as Houston. Neil Armstrong did not address Los Angeles to announce that man had arrived on the moon for the first time. Our brave astronauts don’t train for the rigors of manned space flight in New York. For us, NASA and our nation’s space program aren’t just an industry, they’re part of our identity. The decision not to return home one of our own is more than just a disappointment — it’s an insult.
In response, we have joined a delegation of Texas members of Congress in sending a letter to the NASA administrator demanding to know why Houston was left out. We would like to know the specific reasons New York City was chosen. Considering the Intrepid Museum in New York is a mere 224 miles from the Smithsonian in Virginia, where Discovery will be displayed, wouldn’t it make sense to place a shuttle in a more central location? Now there are three locations on the East Coast and none in the central United States, and the Houston area is a large urban area that would guarantee a high number of annual visitors. All of these reasons would lead to a certain placement when considered with the significant historical connection, which leads to our basic first question: What factors did you use in making your decision?
Despite this setback, we will continue to fight to ensure that Houston will continue to guide humankind further into the wondrous realm of space by supplying our nation with a robust human space exploration program that is essential to our national security and leadership in the world.
Green, a Democrat representing the 29th Congressional District of Texas, is a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Culberson, a Republican representing the 7th District, is a member of the House Committee on Appropriations.
Please stay on these guys! I understand one going to the Smithsonian. I understand one going to California – after all, Edwards AFB is the “cradle” of space flight – Chuck Yeager and the X-15. I understand Florida getting a shuttle. But NEW YORK???? This stinks like fish rotting in the harbor. Not only is Houston financially invested in the space program, there will never be another city more emotionally invested than Houston. This decision is sooooo wrong on so many levels. They not only stabbed us in the back with this politically-based decision, they rubbed salt in the wound. Then they picked over our bones by stripping the training center of almost all of the mock-up modules.
Makes me wish we could secede from the Union, and tell those folks to find some place else to refine their oil….. Or Maybe we should send out the Texas Rangers to retrive a shuttle and bring it home.
REPS. Green and Culberson,
As a Houstonian I’m extremely upset we were not awarded a retired shuttle. However, I would like answers from the people who put our proposal together, as well as from our state Governor and state Congress. Please reference the link below. I came across these renderings and I am embarrassed as a designer and Houstonian that we submitted Sketch Up drawings that would never leave the office of a reputable design firm as a presentation rendering. I think nostalgia plays a heavy role in making such a decision, but there is a process and we did not bring our ‘A’ game. The Olympics has a similar process and awards a new city the opportunity to host the Games. If it were based soley on nostalgia, then Athens would host them every time. I would like to know if our proposal had the following options and if not, why?
1- Nostalgia. We are the space city and are known for ‘Houston, we have a problem’.
2- Dedicated Houstonians to the space shuttle program. This group includes Astronauts, widows and families of Astronauts, all those who work at NASA on this program, and those who are never spoken about, the hard working citizens who helped build parts for the shuttles.
3- Tourism. Already suffering from a huge state debt this would help increase tourism. Being the 4th largest city in the country this would give us an opportunity to A) expand the rail line from downtown to Hobby Airport to NASA to Galveston or B)in addition to option A, house the shuttle in the Astrodome, saving an iconic piece of Architecture at the same time.
3a – Who was to pay for the new facility and its constant maintenance? We are laying off teachers and police officers due to our state and local budget crisis (the last of who should get laid off – the first budget cuts need to come from the paychecks of our politicians). So how do you justify building this facility when our citizens are losing their jobs? Where was this money supposed to come from? Where is our Governor Rick Perry? I haven’t heard a comment from him. He’s spent more time in California since re-election than in our own state! Where is our ‘leader’?
Before we jump to the conclusions this decision was based soley on politics, lets look at ourselves. If we met the issues laid out above, then lets pursue the questioning of NASA. I’m betting our proposal lacked a convincing argument because we thought we just deserved it. This isnt little league – not everyone gets a blue ribbon for participating. We failed ourselves.
http://www.space.com/11342-nasa-shuttle-retirement-announcement-preview.html