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We may have to quarantine ya for a few days in the trailer before ya can run wild.. but sure. :-)
It's called giving ya the full 'Apollo 11' treatment.
Posted on 01/31/2010 6:03:41 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Want the ultimate space collectible? Consider a space shuttle. The orbiters have flown 29 years and have a few miles on them (tens of millions), but soon all three will be up for grabs.
Some time this year—right now it looks like September 30—NASA plans to shut down the program. For all the shuttle’s successes in missions like deploying satellites, fixing the Hubble Space Telescope, and building the International Space Station, flying it was always risky. Two orbiters were lost, Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, killing 14 astronauts. Now NASA says it will donate the ones remaining— Atlantis, Discovery, and Endeavour—to whoever it feels can provide the best homes. In 2008, the agency issued a Request for Information, and21 institutions entered the competition. NASA won’t say when it will ask for formal proposals or identify the candidates, but some have declared themselves, apparently feeling that if you want a national treasure, you shouldn’t be shy about saying so.
NASA made it clear that contestants don’t win simply by raising their hands. Only U.S. museums and educational institutions are eligible. And the gift shuttles will not come with the three main engines, making them lighter and thus easier to transport. (NASA plans to give away six to 10 unassembled engine “kits” to suitable museums.)
Also, you have to display the orbiter indoors. NASA clearly wants to avoid a repeat of the Apollo program’s denouement, when the agency left its three remaining Saturn V rockets to decay outside for decades at its centers in Florida, Texas, and Alabama. These noble behemoths, once targets for pigeons, have since been restored but “certainly there was a lesson learned,” says Valerie Neal, shuttle curator at the National Air and Space Museum, which owns the
(Excerpt) Read more at airspacemag.com ...
Not quite 40:
37 years, 1 month, 17 days
There are rumors that they are going to bring Buran out mothballs.
“There are rumors that they are going to bring Buran out mothballs.”
Pretty unlikely.
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We may have to quarantine ya for a few days in the trailer before ya can run wild.. but sure. :-)
It's called giving ya the full 'Apollo 11' treatment.
http://speyer.technik-museum.de/exhibits/spaceshuttle-buran/sp_610.html
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