Could a space shuttle land in Exposition Park?
The California Science Center hopes so. The science museum has submitted a bid to NASA to permanently display one of three remaining space shuttles once the space administration retires them next year. The orbiter would go into a pavilion that would be the centerpiece of the next expansion phase at the museum.
But the California Science Center faces steep competition as bids have also been submitted for 20 other sites, including museums in New York and Seattle.
One of the shuttle orbiters is almost certain to go to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., which houses the prototype Enterprise shuttle craft in its Steven Udvar-Hazy Center.
According to aerospace trade publications, two frontrunners are the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Each winning bidder will have to pay NASA $29 million for transportation and for display preparation. Getting the shuttle across the country atop a specially equipped Boeing 747 plane costs $6 million. And each spacecraft must be housed in a special temperature-controlled indoor pavilion.
The Science Center would also have to pay for clearing a path for the orbiter from the nearest airport to the museum at Exposition Park, which would mean temporary removal of traffic signals, streetlights or other obstructions on the route.
NASA is expected to make its decision sometime during the summer.
The Science Center is hoping that Southern California’s role in building the shuttle will carry some sway. The shuttle engines were built at Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, and other parts were made at Rockwell International’s plant in Downey, TRW’s Redondo Beach facility and the McDonnell Douglas Space Systems site in Huntington Beach. The final assembly of each shuttle was done at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale.
“The space shuttle was developed in Southern California, so it is only fitting that at least one of the shuttles should be on display here,” said Jeff Rudolph, chief executive of the Science Center.
