The Associated Press
SEATTLE — The Museum of Flight won’t get to display one of the retiring space shuttles, but Seattle’s air and space museum at Boeing Field will get a consolation prize:
A full-scale training mock-up that looks like the space shuttle without wings.
The museum near Boeing Field was one of 21 museum and science centers around the country hoping to land one of the spaceships. A new $12 million building called the Space Gallery is being prepared for the display.
Of the space shuttles that actually flew in space, Discovery will be going to the Smithsonian Institution. It will take the place of Enterprise, the shuttle prototype used for tests in the late 1970s.
The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum is located at Dulles International Airport, Va., in suburban Washington, D.C.
The Enterprise will be going to Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York.
The shuttle Atlantis is going to the Kennedy Space Center, which has a large visitor complex in Florida, and the Endeavor is going to the California Science Center in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park.
Seattle museum visitors will be allowed to climb aboard and try out the full-size training module, which has been used by every astronaut and is the only one of its kind. Visitors won’t be allowed to climb aboard the actual shuttles, Gov. Chris Gregoire noted in announcing why the consolation prize is a “true win” for the people of Washington.
“It will help inspire young people to the adventure of space and to the excitement of a career in science, technology, engineering and math,” the governor added in her written statement.
About 200 people attended the initially somber Museum of Flight event on Tuesday morning, after news leaked out that Seattle wouldn’t be getting a retired space shuttle.
Among the staff, dignitaries and guests in the audience was Emily D’Arcy, 10, from Sammamish, dressed in orange astronaut flight suit and carrying a poster she made for school about astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, who flew on five shuttle missions and spearheaded the effort to bring a shuttle to Seattle.
The Yakima-area native said she was disappointed Seattle would not be getting a space shuttle, but said she was thrilled the museum will get the trainer, which she trained in. Dunbar complimented NASA officials for handling the selection process with “such grace and fairness,” and acknowledged that the museum had tough competition.
Seattle met the requirements NASA said it was looking for in its search for a new home for the space shuttles. The Museum of Flight bid also emphasized the area’s aerospace history, including the fact that Boeing 747s were used to transport the shuttles and that more than 26 astronauts have Northwest connections.
