HOUSTON Houston, we have a problem.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Tuesday announced that Space Center Houston will not receive a retired space shuttle. The orbiters will instead be housed in Florida, California, Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Specifically, the space shuttle Atlantis will retire to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Endeavour will be housed at the California Science Center, just outside of Los Angeles.
Discovery, as previously promised, will go to the Smithsonian Institute.
The prototype Enterprise, which is currently housed at the Smithsonian, will be moved to the Intrepid Museum in New York City.
Bolden made the announcement from the Kennedy Space Center, during a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the first space shuttle flight and the 50th anniversary of man s first journey into space.
Locally, another crowd had gathered in front of Space Center Houston s shuttle mockup to hear the news. When they did, some of them burst into tears.
I just, I get very emotional about this place, because I ve been here since we opened, Space Center Houston employee Angela Case said.
I don t understand why politics had to be a part of it, and it hurts, Space Center Houston visitor Diane Brenner said.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker issued a statement in the moments after the announcement was made, saying she was disappointed about the decision.
This is certainly disappointing, but not entirely unexpected as the Administration has been hinting that Houston would not be a winner in this political competition. I am disappointed for Houston, the JSC family and the survivors of the Columbia and Challenger missions who paid the ultimate price for the advancement of space exploration. There was no other city with our history of human space flight or more deserving of a retiring orbiter. It is unfortunate that political calculations have prevailed in the final decision, Parker said.
She wasn t the first city official to express concern that politics would play a role in the placement of the orbiters.
Monday night, Houston City Council Member Mike Sullivan said he wasn t sure that Houston considered by many to be an obvious choice to house a shuttle would be selected.
I think politics will get in the way, said Sullivan. This is an election year coming up, and I hate to say it, but I m afraid that the shuttles are going to go somewhere else.
Many legislative and business leaders, including Bob Mitchell of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, were calling for a Congressional investigation into why Houston wasn t chosen.
Politics should never play a part in a decision about a piece of American history. Today, I m afraid, politics trumped common sense, Mitchell said.
Rep. Pete Olson said the decision smacked of a political gesture, and Sen. John Cornyn said it was clear that political favors trumped common sense and fairness.
The families of the victims of the Columbia and Challenger disasters released a joint statement Tuesday afternoon, saying they were heartbroken by the decision.
Home is where the heart is, and Houston has served as the heart of the space shuttle program since its inception nearly four decades ago, the families said.
All the astronauts lost were Houston s residents. We, again, share a collective loss as a result of the political decision to send the space shuttle elsewhere. We had prayed that the incredible sacrifices this community has endured would have allowed the shuttles legacy to continue here.
The families added that despite the setback, they will continue to support space exploration, just as they have in the past.
In all, 21 museums and centers including Space Center Houston and facilities in Dayton, Ohio, Seattle and Chicago fought to land one of the shuttles.
We want to thank all of the locations that expressed an interest in one of these national treasures, Bolden said. This was a very difficult decision, but one that was made with the American public in mind. In the end, these choices provide the greatest number of people with the best opportunity to share in the history and accomplishments of NASA s remarkable Space Shuttle Program. These facilities we ve chosen have a noteworthy legacy of preserving space artifacts and providing outstanding access to U.S. and international visitors.
Some of the facilities that were not chosen to house the shuttles, including the Johnson Space Center, were promised shuttle program artifacts.
But many of those artifacts including three flight simulators are currently at the JSC, and they ll be leaving for other locations.
The JSC will be able to keep the flight deck pilot and commander seats, though.
You know, the Johnson Space Center and this community have taken a number of punches to the stomach over the last two years during this current administration. Today, we got another one, Mitchell said.
Only two shuttle missions remain, both to the international space station.
Endeavour is due to blast off April 29, and Atlantis on June 28.
