Working to land a shuttle in B-CS, A&M

  • Posted: Saturday, March 26, 2011 7:00 a.m.
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Eagle Editorial Board


Time is running short to join efforts to bring one of the space shuttles to College Station and Bryan. NASA is expected to announce on April 12 -- the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle flight -- where its fleet of shuttles will spend their retirement years.


Shuttle Discovery completed its final mission earlier this month. Shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour are set to retire after final missions later this year.


Twenty-two locations around the country have submitted proposals to house one of the shuttles. The one submitted by the Brazos Valley Museum Natural History and the Brazos Valley Shuttle Project is pretty exciting and, from what we hear, stands a good chance of being successful.


If the local effort is successful, the museum will build a wonderful new facility near the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the Texas A&M University campus. The expanded Brazos Valley Museum of Science and History not only would display the shuttle, but would serve as the focal point of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math -- STEM -- education, able to expand on the outstanding efforts of A&M to excite and help train new generations of young people.


The U.S. House of Representatives has requested that NASA place the retired shuttles in population centers so they can be visited by the greatest number of people. Bryan and College Station certainly more than meet that requirement. According to the 2010 Census, the triangle from Fort-Worth and Dallas to Austin and San Antonio and over to Houston is home to more than 7 million Texans.


And what is right in the middle? Why, College Station, Bryan and Texas A&M.


The effort to bring one of the shuttles here is supported by numerous prominent people, including former President George H.W. Bush, who is excited by the idea of a shuttle museum as part of his library complex.


To learn more about local shuttle efforts, go to www.bringtheshuttle.com. Facebook fans can go to Bring the Shuttle to Texas, while those on Twitter can follow the efforts @Bring the shuttle.


We hope you are as excited as we are about the prospect of locating a shuttle here. To help the local efforts, send an email to bvsp@rocketmail.com and it will be forwarded to NASA chief Charles Bolden, who ultimately will decide.


Also, you may want to send a message to our representatives in Congress. Their contact information is at left.


What a great day it will be on April 12 when we hear College Station, Bryan and Texas A&M named as the future home of one of America's space shuttles.

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