[HN Gopher] Texas politicians warn Smithsonian it must not lobby...
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       Texas politicians warn Smithsonian it must not lobby to retain its
       space shuttle
        
       Author : LorenDB
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2025-08-08 21:26 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | Strangely, 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 wrote:
         | Also, 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.
        
         | metalman wrote:
         | cutting it apart,numbering the pieces and airmailing it to
         | them,bit by bit " The Space Shuttle Flys One More Time"
        
       | burkaman wrote:
       | 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.
        
       | Mathnerd314 wrote:
       | All 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.
        
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       (page generated 2025-08-08 23:01 UTC)