Air Force’s deep ties to shuttle are Dayton’s unique advantage

The Missile & Space Gallery of the National Museum of the United States Air Force includes the Northrop Grumman Defense Support Program Satellite viewed by visitors Scott Whitehair and his son Ian Whitehair, 11.

Ty Greenlees The Missile & Space Gallery of the National Museum of the United States Air Force includes the Northrop Grumman Defense Support Program Satellite viewed by visitors Scott Whitehair and his son Ian Whitehair, 11.

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John L. "Jack" Hudson, director of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, said he hopes the museum will acquire one of three retired space shuttles. Staff photos by Ty Greenlees

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This model (above) of a proposed new fourth hangar at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (also pictured in artist's rendering at right) includes the space shuttle, presidential aircraft and cargo aircraft and is on display in the management office of the museum.

Ty Greenlees This model (above) of a proposed new fourth hangar at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (also pictured in artist's rendering at right) includes the space shuttle, presidential aircraft and cargo aircraft and is on display in the management office of the museum.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 7:34 AM Thursday, April 7, 2011

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — The Air Force was deeply involved with NASA in the space shuttle program from the beginning, assigning engineers to work on its design and development, lobbying Congress, shaping how the orbiters would be used, and providing airmen as pilots, commanders or other crew.

That’s why NASA should award a shuttle to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson, advocates said.

“To me, there’s no better place in the country to tell the story of the collaboration between the Defense Department and NASA than at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force,” said Michael Heil, a retired Air Force officer who once served at Wright-Patterson. Heil now is president and chief executive officer of the Ohio Aerospace Institute, promoting the state’s aerospace industry and technology development.

Alan M. Lovelace, 81, was NASA’s interim administrator at the time of the first space shuttle launch April 12, 1981. He also served at Wright-Patt in the 1960s as chief scientist, and later director, of what was then known as the Air Force Materials Laboratory. He said the museum would be an appropriate home for a space shuttle because the museum excels at showing how technology advances translate into real-world performance. “The center of gravity for technology has always been Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,” Lovelace said.

Barring a government shutdown, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. is to announce Tuesday, the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight, which of the 21 organizations requesting orbiters will get them.

Available are the orbiters Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis, plus the Enterprise, which was flown as a glider but did not fly in outer space. Air Force officials have said the museum would prefer Atlantis because it carried military payloads, but will adhere to NASA’s decision.

The competition pits the Air Force museum and the Dayton metro area against museums, for-profit site operators and private nonprofits in some of the country’s most populous cities or tourist meccas, including New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle and central Florida.

The Dayton Development Coalition, National Aviation Heritage Alliance, National Aviation Hall of Fame, the Air Force Museum Foundation and others have been working behind the scenes, urging the writing of letters to NASA, encouraging fundraising and urging Ohio’s congressional delegation to argue the state’s case.

U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, sent another letter Tuesday to Bolden, writing that he “wanted to take one last opportunity to encourage you to consider’’ sending one of the retired shuttles to the Air Force museum.

“I have appreciated our multiple discussions regarding the shuttle and fully understand the difficult decision you have to make,” wrote Austria, a member of a House subcommittee that has a major say in NASA’s budget.

Bolden has been given broad discretion to award the shuttles. But the agency’s stated requirements have been how many visitors the would-be recipient draws; how it would use the shuttle to boost education programs; that the orbiter be housed in a climate-controlled environment; and that the recipient have the means to pay $28.8 million to transport and deliver the vehicle.

Museum officials and supporters like to say that the museum is within a day’s drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population, which would make a shuttle at Dayton easily accessible.

But that could also work against Dayton because it is less than a day’s drive from Washington, D.C., where NASA has promised a shuttle (likely Discovery) to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, said Robert Pearlman, editor of CollectSpace.com, a website for space history enthusiasts.

A shuttle could boost the Air Force museum’s annual attendance from its current 1.3 million to at least 2 million. The National Aviation Heritage Alliance commissioned a study that suggested an orbiter at the museum would support 700 new jobs and add $40 million to the economy locally. That was based on assumptions about spending by the expected additional visitors, said Tony Sculimbrene, the alliance’s executive director.

NASA has not provided details of the transport that has a $28.8 million price tag, nor any deadline for providing the money, said Rob Bardua, a spokesman for the Air Force museum. NASA would negotiate those details with shuttle recipients after their selection is announced, NASA spokesman Mike Curie said.

President Obama’s proposed fiscal 2012 budget allocates $14 million for preparation and delivery of the shuttle Atlantis to the Air Force museum. The Air Force proposed the funding and Obama included it in his budget, officials said. But that amount could be deleted or reduced by Congress in its efforts to cut federal spending.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Chester Twp., has said he would like to see the Air Force museum obtain an orbiter, but doesn’t want taxpayers’ money used for that purpose.

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