Sponsors (3)
The bill relocates the Space Shuttle Discovery to Johnson Space Center to expand local STEM access and boost regional tourism while enabling NASA to obtain needed funds quickly, but it shifts a national artifact away from DC, exposes taxpayers and agency budgets to unspecified moving and exhibit costs, and imposes tight timelines that may increase logistical strain and expense.
Students, teachers, and local visitors will gain regular nearby access to the Space Shuttle Discovery when it is exhibited within 5 miles of Johnson Space Center, improving STEM learning opportunities and public outreach.
Johnson Space Center will host a flagship Discovery exhibit under JSC oversight, which can boost local tourism, community engagement, and related economic activity for the Houston area.
The bill authorizes NASA to receive the funds (including Presidential supplemental requests) needed to carry out the transfer, enabling implementation without reprogramming existing program funds.
Taxpayers and NASA budgets may face open-ended and unspecified costs for moving, housing, and exhibiting Discovery because appropriations are authorized as 'such sums as necessary,' creating potential fiscal exposure.
Visitors, students, and educators in the Washington, D.C. area will lose regular access to Discovery if it is removed from the Smithsonian, shifting a major national artifact away from the nation's capital.
Short statutory deadlines for planning and completing the transfer (e.g., 90-day plan, 18-month transfer, 1-year title transfer) could strain Smithsonian and NASA resources, raise costs, and increase logistical risk during the move.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires NASA to move the Space Shuttle Discovery to Johnson Space Center within 18 months, display it within 5 miles of JSC, and allows transfer of title to a nonprofit.
Introduced June 20, 2025 by Randy Weber · Last progress June 20, 2025
Requires NASA to retrieve the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and move it to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston within 18 months of enactment. It directs NASA and the Smithsonian to submit a jointly developed plan (including timeline and cost estimates) to Congress within 90 days, requires the Smithsonian to transfer title to NASA within one year after the physical transfer, and directs that the orbiter be placed on public display within five miles of Johnson Space Center under JSC oversight until title is later transferred to an approved nonprofit. The bill authorizes whatever funds are necessary to carry out the transfer, including supplemental budget requests by the President.