5 ms·
Texas politicians warn Smithsonian it must not lobby to retain its space shuttle
- ungreased0675 1y agoThe space shuttle is fine where it is. Why does it need to be moved now?
- jfengel 1y agoBecause it is in a state run by the party out of power, and a state run by the party in power wants it.
- Animats 1y agoUdvar-Hazy, the hangar museum where the Smithsonian stores the big stuff, is in Virginia. The governor of Virginia is a Republican.
- jfengel 1y agoBut both senators are Democrats, and it nearly always goes for the Democrats at the Presidential level. (Not always, but when it doesn't, it's always such a sweep that it doesn't matter.)
- mcphage 1y agoBecause the Republicans are carving up our nation and offering it to the highest bidder—or in this case, bribery for votes. That’s the government we have now. This is what has become of the former leader of the free world.
- ungreased0675 1y agoI don’t see how that applies to this situation at all
- mcphage 1y agoIt is why the space shuttle is being moved from the Smithsonian—it got Trump some votes for his Big Beautiful Bill.
- rasz 1y agoTo own the libs.
- Animats 1y agoStrangely, according to its Congressional proponents, the language in the bill says "to transfer a space vehicle involved in the Commercial Crew Program". That would not be a Shuttle. That's a Space-X Dragon, or one of the boosters. The remaining Shuttles were delivered by carrying them atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier, a Boeing 747 rigged for that, and landing it at a nearby airport. Those craft were retired years ago. Unclear how to move the thing without cutting it apart.
- derbOac 1y agoAlso, no one is providing the rest of the "message sent to Congress" in which "the organization said it would be 'unprecedented' for the federal government to remove an object from its collection and send it somewhere else." There's nothing about noting that something is "unprecedented" that counts as lobbying or opposition per se. It could be "unprecedented" in a good way; the organization might have also just been answering a question or asking for clarification -- which seems reasonable given that the law specifies something involved in the Commercial Crew Program, not the shuttle.
- AlotOfReading 1y agoNot defending this specific case, but is it really unprecedented to remove an item from the Smithsonian and send it somewhere else? There's been a similar order for them to return cultural remains to their owners since 1989.
- Animats 1y agoNASA at least gets to pick which shuttle, if they have to go through with this. Enterprise, which is stored in a tent near the Intrepid aircraft carrier in New York, might be an option. There's no historical relationship between Intrepid and the Space Shuttle. Enterprise was placed where it is now by lifting it from a barge with a large crane. So it could be put onto a barge again and moved to Houston by water.[1] [1] https://intrepidmuseum.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/space-shuttle-pavilion https://intrepidmuseum.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions...
- burkaman 1y agoThe bill allocates $85 million to move the shuttle. For some reason Senator Cornyn doesn't mention that number in his press releases. The relevant text: > (F) $85,000,000 shall be obligated to carry out subsection (b), of which not less than $5,000,000 shall be obligated for the transportation of the space vehicle described in that subsection, with the remainder transferred not later than the date that is 18 months after the date of the enactment of this section to the entity designated under that subsection, for the purpose of construction of a facility to house the space vehicle referred to in that subsection. Also, the Air and Space Museum is free and Space Center Houston (the new location) charges $30 per person.
- jfengel 1y agoMinor quibble: the Shuttle is at Udvar-Hazy, which is also free but has kinda pricey parking. ($17, iirc). You don't have to drive, though it is kinda far from anything else. And the price is per car rather than per person, so a family visit is far cheaper.
- addaon 1y ago> You don't have to drive, though it is kinda far from anything else. It’s right at Dulles, easy to cap onto a trip in or out of the DC area, or even a long-ish layover.
- burkaman 1y agoIt is far but you can take the metro to the bus, that's how I've visited. And it is a really cool museum, I would recommend it to anyone. Try to go before the shuttle is gone I guess, but they also have an SR-71, lots of satellites, a Concorde, and a thousand other planes. Just a giant hangar full of cool stuff.
- racnid 1y agoThat is a long trip from downtown; but utterly worth it.
- amy_petrik 1y ago
- Mathnerd314 1y agoAll I can find on the Smithsonian is that they did press interviews, where various staff expressed opposition, and that they also sent some report to Congress. The press interviews are, quite naturally, public statements, and it could be argued they're unrelated to lobbying. As for the report, that's part of their normal duties - it would be a real catch-22 if such a report were considered lobbying. This feels like bluster from the politicians; they write dumb letters all the time for PR purposes. The space shuttle situation, though, is a disaster.
- ofrzeta 1y agoWow, things like this are really actually part of that "One Big Beautiful Bill Act"?!
- 9dev 1y agoEverything is. It’s a masterpiece of authoritarian politics: Who could refuse a bill that benefits waitresses all over the country?
- ofrzeta 1y agoI think I don't know what a "bill" is. It seems like a collection of laws? Or just a collection of something (like the Space Shuttle thing). It's seems crazy to have a huge blob of things that you can either accept or refuse in full. Internet research tells me, it is more or less the same as a law, so how can something like a "big (and very beautiful!) bill" even exist?
- 9dev 1y agoSometimes it makes sense to create a package of laws to release at once, because they enact a shared goal or depend on each other. That’s good, and generally considered useful. Then again if you let a bunch of degenerates without dignity, manners, or brains take control of the government, they will twist every tool to their disposal into perversion; in this case, shoving any and all policy changes into a giant law, such that you can always point at the commonly accepted improvements, gloss over the atrocities, and most importantly, coerce all senators into passing it, even if it’s actively harmful to their own constituents. And if people start to ask too many questions, you threaten to invade a country, accept a bribe jet plane, or do really anything else to flood the zone with shit.