COLLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - The vision Ohio federal and state officials had of the cascade of visitors, jobs and income that would be triggered if NASA donated one of its four retired space shuttles to the National Museum of the Air Force, near Dayton, crashed Tuesday when NASA flew them over Ohio and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and landed them at four other locations.
National Air and Space Administration Administrator Charles F. Bolden announced that the space agency selected New York, California, the Cape Kennedy Space Station in Florida, and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. as final homes for the retired space shuttles.
Ohio officials were hoping that a space shuttle at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, home of Ohio heroes and aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, would draw an extra 1 million yearly visitors to the National Museum of the Air Force there, create 700 jobs and add $40 million to the state's economy. About 1.3 million people already visit the free museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base each year, sources said.
When President Barack Obama's budget for the next fiscal year contained $14 million to bring a shuttle to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio officials and lawmakers saw that as a good sign the would land one. Nearly a month ago they sent a letter to Obama asking him to continue his support for assigning the shuttle to the Dayton museum.
Sherrod Brown, Ohio's senior U.S. Senator, wasn't pleased with today's decision. "NASA ignored the intent of Congress and the interests of taxpayers," Brown said in a press statement. "NASA was directed to consider regional diversity when determining shuttle locations. Unfortunately, it looks like regional diversity amounts to which coast you are on, or which exit you use on I-95. "
Bolden told federal lawmakers that “this process has been as pure as I can make it and as free of any political involvement, according to published reports. He said he has spoken to “people close to" President Barack Obama about the process NASA developed to select the four final sites. Bolden said he established a list of 10 criteria and that 29 sites across the country met those requirements.
But under questioning from Brown, a Democrat running for a second term next year, Bolden acknowledged “there will be 25 people who will be unhappy’’ with the final choices.
The National Museum of the Air Force has been trying to land the shuttle Atlantis, which flew a number of missions for the Air Force. Three of the shuttles – Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour – have flown in space. The fourth orbiter is the Enterprise, which flew some test flights.
The only site Bolden publicly identified as being guaranteed a shuttle is the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, which currently has Enterprise. The Smithsonian will have the option of keeping the Enterprise or taking one of the three orbiters that flew in space.
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