NASA has the shuttles on sale!

[JamesG]

NASA is having a fire sale on the Shuttle fleet. Now half-off at $29 million apiece!

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/ne...space-shuttles-slightly-used-now-on-sale.html

Be the first on your block to own an antique spaceship!

Jokes asside. Its kind of pathetic that the shuttles are being auctioned like they were scrap metal. They should be treated like retired naval ships and transfered to museums.

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Hopefully KSC gets to keep one, and hopefully either Johnson Space Center or something out in California will get one. It is sad, but it looks like NASA is discriminating in terms of the winning bidder so they shouldn't be scrapped or just neglected like Buran was.

 

[John_L]

You can pick up the Buran alot cheaper

 

[willy88]

$29,000,000? That's it?

 

[Andy44]

Sure, the orbiters are cheap. But then they hit you with a giant service charge every time you fly it. That's how they get ya!

 

[Bj]

Nah, its all about the shipping and handling..

Willing buyers, however, still are responsible for shipping and handling.

So 29 million, plus a crawler at 150 gal/mile and the manpower to ship it, probably take weeks to get it somewhere; will cost couple hundred million to boot :lol:

Kennedy Space Center has said it wants one of the orbiters for display at its visitor’s center.

Well at least they will keep one...

 

[computerex]

With the tight budget NASA has to work with now a days I am not surprised that they are selling the orbiters. It's sad to see them go out of service though .

 

[JamesG]

Remember NASA is a federal agency, not a private company. Selling the orbiters isn't going to give them _X_ of dollars more in budget to use. Barring some regulation I'm not aware of, money will go back to General Accounts. Its probably being done because its the only way they can "liquidate" them by regs, or maybe some administrator thought this might be a "responsible way to manage the taxpayers money" in today's political environment.
However, the ships are also fully depreciated, $29Mil is only a drop in the bucket of thier billion dollar cost and the amount spent them over the years and thier historical and non-tangible value is worth far more.

How will they moved them I wonder?

What if the winner is land locked? What will they do? Chop the wings off and put it on a semi?

 

[T.Neo]

Fly it on the SCA, then transport by truck to the location?

 

[DaveS]

What if the winner is land locked? What will they do? Chop the wings off and put it on a semi?

See Q10 in this RFI FAQ document: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/417546main_RFI Inquiries and NASA Responses.pdf

 

[astrosammy]

Buy one, Speyer, buy one!

 

[Loru]

About 5 years ago there was whole second Buran Orbiter (Ptichka) for sale in Poland.
Price was quite small - about 270,000$ but shipping cost from Baikonur was enormous.

 

[Hielor]

I remember reading somewhere that the price given for the shuttle is primarily to cover cleanup, processing, and decommissioning expenses, rather than an actual "sale."

 

[TSPenguin]

Buy one, Speyer, buy one!

May the probe guide them!

 

[garyw]

I remember reading somewhere that the price given for the shuttle is primarily to cover cleanup, processing, and decommissioning expenses, rather than an actual "sale."

Correct, there should be a PDF somewhere on NASA's site about it. The price tag guarentees that the recepient is able to take care of the craft. They are still the property of the US Government though.

 

[TMac3000]

They should launch Enterprise into space just once, for old times' sake, before retiring the fleet.

So with the shuttle gone, I guess we go back to cheap disposable rockets?

 

[NukeET]

They should be treated like retired naval ships and transfered to museums.

The price tag guarentees that the recepient is able to take care of the craft. They are still the property of the US Government though.

Which is why NASA is only selling to museums.

 

[T.Neo]

Which is why NASA is only selling to museums.

Damnit.

Is there any way for me to declare myself a museum?

They should launch Enterprise into space just once, for old times' sake, before retiring the fleet.

Yeah... NASA should launch the The Empire State Building into space too.

 

[garyw]

They should launch Enterprise into space just once, for old times' sake, before retiring the fleet

Too expensive. the cost of making is space worthy was so high that NASA built Endeavour from spare parts rather than fit out Enterprise to be space-worthy.

Also, They won't do something just for a publicity stunt. Too dangerous, too expensive and not required.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Now that we have our own store, O-F should club together & buy a Shuttle!

Obviously we would need to make it UMMU compatible! :rofl: