Space Shuttle Discovery Must Move to Houston Within 18 Months Under New Act

The “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act” is a straightforward bill with a big job: moving one of the most iconic pieces of American space history across the country. Specifically, this legislation mandates that the Space Shuttle Discovery—currently housed at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, D.C.—must be relocated to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, within 18 months of the bill becoming law.

The Logistics of a Very Big Move

Think about the logistics of moving a couch across town, then multiply that by the size and complexity of a retired space shuttle. That’s essentially what NASA and the Smithsonian Institution are now tasked with. Within 90 days, the two agencies have to submit a joint plan to Congress detailing the timeline and, crucially, the estimated cost of this massive transfer. This plan is the first hurdle, ensuring everyone knows how much federal money is required. The bill authorizes “whatever money is necessary” for the Administrator to pull this off, which means Congress will need to allocate specific, likely supplemental, funding to cover the expense of transporting a national treasure.

Where Will Discovery Land?

Once Discovery lands in Texas, the bill includes strict requirements for its new home. It must be put on public display for STEM education purposes, and that display location cannot be more than five miles away from the Johnson Space Center. For the folks in Houston, this is a major win—a huge educational draw coming right to their backyard. For the Smithsonian, it’s a loss of a premier artifact and the administrative headache of organizing its removal. The bill requires the Smithsonian to transfer ownership (title) to NASA within one year of the shuttle’s arrival at JSC.

The Final Custodian

Here’s where the long-term plan gets interesting and a little vague. While NASA takes initial custody, the bill allows the Administrator to eventually transfer the title to a selected nonprofit organization. The catch? That nonprofit must agree to keep the shuttle on public display for STEM education, and it must still remain within that five-mile radius of the Johnson Space Center. This gives the NASA Administrator significant power in choosing the final, permanent steward of the shuttle, without specifying what criteria will be used to make that choice. For everyday people, this means the quality and accessibility of the shuttle’s future display will depend heavily on the nonprofit selected.