The Space Shuttle Discovery would move to Texas under President Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
Cornyn’s office said in a statement on his website that Trump’s megabill “would authorize” Discovery’s shipment to “an entity” close to Houston’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. It is currently on display at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Northern Virginia.
“Houston has long been the cornerstone of our nation’s human space exploration program, and it’s long overdue for Space City to receive the recognition it deserves by bringing the Space Shuttle Discovery home,” Cornyn said in the Monday statement.
“I am glad to see this pass as part of the Senate’s One Big Beautiful Bill and look forward to welcoming Discovery to Houston and righting this egregious wrong,” he added.
Discovery, which took its last flight in 2011, spent a year in space while it was in service and travelled almost 150 million miles, according to the Smithsonian.
“Houston has long stood at the heart of America’s human spaceflight program, and this legislation rightly honors that legacy,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in Cornyn’s release
“It ensures that any future transfer of a flown, crewed space vehicle will prioritize locations that have played a direct and vital role in our nation’s manned space program, making Houston, Texas, a leading candidate,” he added.
House Republicans advanced Trump’s policy bill early Thursday morning, overcoming an important procedural hurdle toward a final vote following a dramatic vote that Republican leaders left open for hours to calm an internal revolt.
When reached for comment, the National Air and Space Museum directed The Hill to a message to Congress in which they said “the case against relocating the orbiter Discovery is both philosophical and practical.
“It would be unprecedented for Congress to remove an object from a Smithsonian collection and send it somewhere else,” they added.
“The Space Shuttle Discovery is not on loan to the Smithsonian from NASA,” the statement reads. “Ownership was transferred to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM).”
Updated at 3:09 p.m. EDT
