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The 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)

The 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 ago
Minor 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 ago
  It 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 ago
    That is a long trip from downtown; but utterly worth it.
- amy_petrik 1y ago
  also worth mentioning the Smithsonian air and space museum (there are two, the one people know about on the national mall, and the less well known but way better one somewhere in virginia) -- the latter one also pulls the same stunt - free entry, expensive parking. Also see: many of our state and national parks. Clearly these museums are either (a) underfunded (2) overspending (c) both, thusly operating in a capitalistic fashion. kind of silly since the purpose is knowledge for the people. imagine a library with free borrowing and return of books and resources, free internet, but parking at the library is $10.
  - infecto 1y ago
    I don’t think it’s clear. I am not a local to these areas but it sounds like it could also be similar to tragedy of the commons. If the parking was free maybe it becomes overused by other folks and there are ways to prevent that but people are clever getting around loopholes. Easy enough to charge for parking.

jfengel 1y ago

Minor 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 ago
It 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 ago
  That is a long trip from downtown; but utterly worth it.
amy_petrik 1y ago
also worth mentioning the Smithsonian air and space museum (there are two, the one people know about on the national mall, and the less well known but way better one somewhere in virginia) -- the latter one also pulls the same stunt - free entry, expensive parking. Also see: many of our state and national parks. Clearly these museums are either (a) underfunded (2) overspending (c) both, thusly operating in a capitalistic fashion. kind of silly since the purpose is knowledge for the people. imagine a library with free borrowing and return of books and resources, free internet, but parking at the library is $10.
- infecto 1y ago
  I don’t think it’s clear. I am not a local to these areas but it sounds like it could also be similar to tragedy of the commons. If the parking was free maybe it becomes overused by other folks and there are ways to prevent that but people are clever getting around loopholes. Easy enough to charge for parking.