No shuttle for Dayton; Air Force museum came close

This image made available by the Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 15, 2010 shows an initial concept design for a proposed space shuttle exhibit in Cape Canaveral, Fla. After it closes out the program, shuttle Atlantis will stay in Cape Canaveral at the space center's visitor complex, just miles from the pair of launch pads used to shoot the orbiters into space. Dayton lost out in the NASA decision to donate a shuttle to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Area lawmakers are outraged.

AP Photo/Kennedy Space Center This image made available by the Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 15, 2010 shows an initial concept design for a proposed space shuttle exhibit in Cape Canaveral, Fla. After it closes out the program, shuttle Atlantis will stay in Cape Canaveral at the space center's visitor complex, just miles from the pair of launch pads used to shoot the orbiters into space. Dayton lost out in the NASA decision to donate a shuttle to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Area lawmakers are outraged.

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A somber mood enveloped the National Museum of the United States Air Force on Tuesday, April 12 after NASA announced that the museum would not be receiving an orbiter. Beavercreek mayor Scott Hadley, left, Riverside mayor Bill Flaute, center and Fairborn mayor Joan Dautel were visibly upset.

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees A somber mood enveloped the National Museum of the United States Air Force on Tuesday, April 12 after NASA announced that the museum would not be receiving an orbiter. Beavercreek mayor Scott Hadley, left, Riverside mayor Bill Flaute, center and Fairborn mayor Joan Dautel were visibly upset.

Population and tourist drawing power were keys for winning sites

By John Nolan and Jack Torry
Staff Writers Updated 1:18 PM Wednesday, April 13, 2011

NASA’s decision Tuesday not to donate a space shuttle to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force angered members of Ohio’s congressional delegation, who called for a federal investigation.

They urged the U.S. Government Accountability Office to review NASA’s selection process that left out other sites in the country’s interior, including Chicago, Tulsa and Houston.

Four of the 21 competing sites received shuttles. Three of the sites are on the East Coast, and one is on the West Coast. NASA ranked the Air Force museum fifth among its top sites, said U.S. Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek.

Austria said NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. told him the museum met all of NASA’s stated key criteria for permanent display of an orbiter, including science and education programs, accessibility, display plans and climate-controlled location for housing and displaying the spacecraft.

But, in the end, New York City; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; and Florida’s Space Coast won out, with their population bases and tourist drawing power. Bolden overlooked the Air Force museum even though it already draws 1.3 million visitors a year.

The Air Force museum is also within a day’s drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population, museum supporters said.

Bolden, a former shuttle pilot and commander, said the Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex in Florida will receive the orbiter Atlantis; the California Science Center in Los Angeles will receive the orbiter Endeavour; the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., will receive the orbiter Discovery; and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City will get the Enterprise, which was used for testing and never flew in space.

Austria, whose congressional district includes part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the Air Force museum is located, said NASA’s administrator told him the agency selected the Florida, Washington, New York and Los Angeles sites because they provide ready international access to visitors.

Austria, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and others said Bolden’s decision slighted the Midwest and the Air Force, which was an early partner of NASA’s in designing and developing the space shuttle and contributed $8 billion to its development.

“New York and L.A. don’t make a lot of sense. They didn’t make contributions to the program,” said Turner, referring to the shuttle program. “No one in the Midwest is going to have a shuttle.

“We’ll never be New York; we’ll never be Los Angeles. But we’ll always be home to the Wright brothers, to all things aerospace,” Turner said.

NASA declined to award an orbiter to Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, where Adler Planetarium had requested an orbiter, and Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city.

Bob Mitchell, a Houston business community leader who had advocated strongly for allocation of an orbiter to his city, said Congress should investigate NASA’s site selection process.

Olga Dominguez, an assistant NASA administrator for strategic infrastructure, told reporters Tuesday that Bolden followed her office’s recommendations for allocating the orbiters.

“NASA took very seriously its mission to find the best locations for display of these engineering and education marvels. ... We just did not have enough to go around,” Dominguez said. “The locations were recommended based on the best value to the American taxpayers, including education and outreach, as well as domestic and international access.”

Supporters of the Air Force museum said it already has robust programs to support science, technology, engineering and mathematics teaching for students and young visitors.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, led the call for an investigation by the GAO, the investigative and auditing arm of Congress.

“NASA ignored the intent of Congress and the interests of taxpayers. NASA was directed to consider regional diversity when determining shuttle locations,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, it looks like regional diversity amounts to which coast you are on, or which exit you use on I-95. Even more insulting to taxpayers is that having paid to build the shuttles, they will now be charged to see them at some sites.”

Congress has the right to explore and better understand NASA’s process, Dominguez said.

Although the Air Force museum did not get a shuttle, it will get artifacts including a shuttle’s main engine, a crew compartment simulator, thruster and orbiter tires, museum director Jack Hudson said. Other sites will receive shuttle equipment and artifacts as well, Bolden said.

“We respect the decision and wish the winners the best,” Hudson said.

The museum still plans to construct a fourth building that is to open in 2014 and house a Space Gallery, Presidential Gallery and Global Reach Gallery, Hudson said. The Air Force Museum Foundation has raised about $20 million toward that project’s $47 million cost, museum spokesman Rob Bardua said Tuesday.

Two shuttle flights, of the Endeavour and Atlantis, remain before the program officially ends this summer.

Discovery made its last flight in March.

NASA is now cleaning up Discovery for its eventual display.

The space agency has said it doesn’t expect to be ready to transfer the orbiters to their new homes until next year.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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