Breaking News – Atlantis to stay at Kennedy Space Center
Just announced over at Kennedy Space Center – When space shuttle Atlantis returns from its final mission in July, it’s coming home to stay at Kennedy Space Center, congressional sources said today.
Their confirmation came moments before NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was to make the announcement that the Visitors Center here will get to keep and display Atlantis for visitors and for the thousands of KSC workers who spent their careers launching the shuttles into orbit over the past three decades.
As expected, KSC won a nationwide sweepstakes to keep one of the three remaining active shuttles that have been the backbone of America’s space program since 1981. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Brevard County, had pushed hard to keep Atlantis, on which both he and Bolden flew into orbit in 1986, in his political backyard.
Bolden brought the good news to more than 300 NASA officials and area dignitaries gathered outside KSC’s orbiter maintenance facility for what was initially set up to be a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle launch. The announcement was preceded by a 15-minute video about the shuttle, the most complex machine ever built, narrated by William Shatner, and congratulations from the six crew members aboard the International Space Station.
As regards the other shuttles, Discovery is heading to the Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia and Endeavour is off to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Finally, the prototype Enterprise, which never flew in space, goes to the Intrepid museum in New York City. Seems like a decent split to me and hopefully it’ll please most people.
