How quickly the cutting edge becomes obsolete. It seems like only yesterday that space shuttles started hauling 50,000-pound payloads into outer space. But the truth is, if you were born the same day the space shuttle made its maiden voyage, you’re about to hit the dreaded Big Three Oh. In two weeks (on Tuesday, April 12), Americans will celebrate the 30th anniversary of that first space shuttle launch.
? Among the aircraft at the Museum of Flight in Seattle are the first presidential jet, a Concorde jet, the world’s first fighter plane from World War I, plus a Boeing 727, the prototype Boeing 737, a Boeing 747 and an unmanned reconnaissance drone.
? The museum has an $8 million annual budget.
One week later, the space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to make its final voyage, and the Atlantis is set to make its final flight in June. Earlier this year, the Discovery took its final trip.
NASA is looking at more than 20 museums around the country as final resting places for space shuttles, and the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field in Seattle is in the running. An announcement will be made by NASA Administrator Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden Jr. on April 12.
? Among the aircraft at the Museum of Flight in Seattle are the first presidential jet, a Concorde jet, the world's first fighter plane from World War I, plus a Boeing 727, the prototype Boeing 737, a Boeing 747 and an unmanned reconnaissance drone.
? The museum has an $8 million annual budget.
Seattle would make a perfect site for a space shuttle, for several reasons. As The News Tribune of Tacoma reported recently, the Northwest is “a region whose fortunes have been tied to aerospace since William Boeing launched his Model 1 seaplane in 1916.” And the Museum of Flight, “which displays more than 80 fascinating and historically significant aircraft, is one of the nation’s great showcases of aviation.”
Retired space shuttles should be placed where the most Americans from various parts of the country can view them, and the geographical symmetry argument weighs heavily in Seattle’s favor. One shuttle — the Enterprise, a prototype used for landing tests — already is on display near Washington, D.C., in a Smithsonian Institution museum at Dulles International Airport. Florida, Texas and California are strong candidates to win this museum jackpot because of each region’s contributions to space travel and research. To also retire a space shuttle in Seattle would complete the circuit around the nation.
In anticipation of such a decision, the Museum of Flight is building a $12 million Space Gallery to house a shuttle. You can join the recruiting crusade by visiting http://www.museumofflight.org/shuttle-boosters, where you can view abundant information and show your support by signing a petition or making a donation.
The Columbian hereby adds our voice to Southwest Washington’s support of this effort, and our corner of the state has the bona fides to back up its case. Astronaut Mike Barratt, who flew on the Discovery earlier this year, is a native of Camas. On that flight, he carried the signatures of more than 1,000 Clark County students.
Last year, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, a former Hudson’s Bay High School teacher, rode the Discovery and spent two weeks on the International Space Station.
And one Clark County resident made significant design contributions to the space shuttle program. Those bullet-shaped external fuel tanks on the space shuttles didn’t get to be orange just by accident, you know. That decision was made on the recommendation of a team including Farouk Huneidi, a retired thermal engineer who now lives in Salmon Creek.
The big announcement in two weeks will yield tremendous tourism benefits for at least three regions. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest have shown that we are fully qualified and prepared to become the final resting place for one of the space shuttles. And for Clark County residents, this would be one more reason to brave the “I-5 Slog” up to Seattle and spend a day or two.
