A famous NASA space shuttle is set to be moved out of the Smithsonian and to Texas after House Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s tax bill Thursday.
The focal points of the so-called “big, beautiful bill” have been an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and cuts to the low-income healthcare program Medicaid. But there is a lesser-known provision sparking controversy.
Once the bill is signed by Trump, $85 million will be allocated to transport the Discovery space shuttle from the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum to Space Center Houston. The shuttle was part of NASA’s Space Shuttle program, which ran from 1981 to 2011.
The provision was criticized by the Smithsonian and others because of the cost and potential for damage of moving the space shuttle.
In a new report by The Washington Post, the Smithsonian estimated it will actually cost more than $300 million to transport Discovery when accounting for costs such as constructing a new facility at Space Center Houston for the shuttle and creating an alternative museum display at the Smithsonian.
Discovery would also be “extremely complex and difficult” to transfer, the Smithsonian said, adding there is a “significant” threat of damage to the shuttle.
Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut who flew on the Discovery, also voiced his concerns about the transfer, calling it “ludicrous and unnecessary.”
“I would much rather see that money invested in NASA’s science program,” Reisman told the Post.
Trump has proposed cutting back the science program calling its current $7 billion in spending “unsustainable” in his 2026 budget request.
“If you’re going to cut that and then cough up hundreds of millions of dollars into this for what is essentially a political mission — two senators who are concerned only about what’s best for their state and not what’s best for the country — I find that to be just a travesty,” Reisman said.
Those two senators would be Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Texas Republicans who backed the provision.
A spokesperson for Cornyn told the Post the Smithsonian’s estimate for the cost to transfer the shuttle was “purposefully overblown.”
“An outside vendor skilled at moving military equipment like tanks, military aircraft larger than a space shuttle, and the shuttle mock-up has estimated the total cost to be between $5-$8 million,” the spokesperson said.
Cruz argued in a statement to the Post: “Houston has long stood at the heart of America’s human spaceflight program, and this legislation rightly honors that legacy.”
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