Construction has started in Seattle on shuttle home

A view of the building the Museum of Flight is constructing, across the street from the main museum building, in an $11 million project that will house an orbiter, if NASA awards one to the museum. Otherwise, space artifacts will be housed in the building, which is to be done in early August 2011. In the foreground is the nose of a Concorde airplane that is on long-term loan from British Airways to the museum for display.

Chuck Hamlin/CMG A view of the building the Museum of Flight is constructing, across the street from the main museum building, in an $11 million project that will house an orbiter, if NASA awards one to the museum. Otherwise, space artifacts will be housed in the building, which is to be done in early August 2011. In the foreground is the nose of a Concorde airplane that is on long-term loan from British Airways to the museum for display.

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 8:43 AM Friday, April 8, 2011

SEATTLE — The Seattle community is heavily involved in the pitch to get a retired space shuttle.

A space shuttle flag has flown atop the Space Needle, a high-profile landmark since it was built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.

Students in the region have begun their own letter-writing campaigns. Anna Hiatt, a contestant in the state’s “Mrs. Washington” beauty pageant, has been promoting Seattle’s Museum of Flight, its shuttle effort and its education programs during visits to schools.

This city is so committed to obtaining a shuttle that the museum is already constructing an $11 million building that would house the shuttle, along with other space artifacts.

Unless a government shutdown occurs, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. is to announce on Tuesday — the 30th anniversary of the first U.S. shuttle launch — which of 21 competing sites will be awarded the three shuttles and the similar-looking Enterprise, a test glider that wasn’t flown in space. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is among the contenders.

Given that the 30-year shuttle program was run from Mission Control in Houston and launches took place from Cape Canaveral, Fla., Seattle’s claim to an orbiter might seem tenuous. It is a city some would more readily associate with coffeehouses and Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

But officials of the Museum of Flight emphasized to NASA their institution’s commitment to science education programs, as well as the ability to draw visitors from the West Coast and nearby Canada.

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