Texas politicians make headway in effort to wrench space shuttle from Smithsonian
A political effort to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Space Center Houston has been merged with the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," a major economic and policy package now nearing a vote in the US Senate.
The "Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act," first introduced by Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn in April, has now been added to the Senate's version of the bill championed by President Donald Trump. While the latter legislation primarily focuses on tax cuts and spending increases, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, chaired by Cruz, added the retired orbiter's relocation as part of an additional $9.995 billion in funding for NASA's programs, including the return of astronauts to the Moon and sending humans to Mars.
"One of the things in the Big Beautiful Bill we're talking about, there's about a $10 billion appropriation for NASA," said Cornyn at a June 20 press conference at Space Center Houston. "We're optimistic that bill that started out as a beautiful bill in the House will become even more beautiful in the Senate this week."