12/18/2008
Space Shuttles to Go on Sale for $42 Million
NASA snapped this very cool shot of the Space Shuttle Endeavor piggybacking on a 747 over the Mojave Desert on December 10.
The space agency is putting the shuttle fleet up for sale when it is retired in 2010:
"The advertised price is just the starting figure for any one of the orbiters Discovery, Atlantis or Endeavour, which between them have flown 86 missions into space since 1984. Included is the minimum $6m cost of stripping a shuttle of toxic and other hazardous materials, preparing it for travel and flying it to an airport of the buyer's choosing. As an agency of the US government, Nasa insists it won't be selling its most prized assets to just anybody. So far, it is approaching only educational institutions, science museums and "other appropriate organisations" to gauge interest and assess the size of their chequebooks. 'Nasa is keenly aware of the essential value of these key assets to the space programme's rich history,' an official says in a 'request for information' document that seeks ideas for the public display of the shuttles after their retirement...Only US citizens will be eligible to purchase and display the shuttles, which will be sold with all space-worthy fittings and fixtures except the main engines. Interested parties must promise to display the spacecraft in a climate-controlled indoor location."
Posted 3:30 PM EST by Andy Towle in News, Space | Permalink
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I think it's nice that they're trying to make some money and they have some restrictions, but do they honestly think countries like China, France, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan will not seek to copy the designs?
It just seems like a national security issue to me...
Posted by: Gay Power Living | Dec 18, 2008 4:20:17 PM
I just wanna know how the hell they get the space shuttle on the back of the airliner.
Posted by: MikeinSanJose | Dec 18, 2008 4:43:41 PM
That's why the article says:
"Only US citizens will be eligible to purchase and display the shuttles..."
so no worries about China, France, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan, and so on
Posted by: Quint King | Dec 18, 2008 5:21:08 PM
Will John Travolta expand his fleet?
Posted by: Rad | Dec 18, 2008 9:00:12 PM
in the words or Marlene Dietrich: "Buy that for me, daddy"
Posted by: Paul | Dec 18, 2008 10:09:21 PM
I always knew the shuttle was a top
Posted by: blake | Dec 19, 2008 12:05:29 AM