space shuttles

We all remember how we felt when we learned that Houston will not be getting one of the retired space shuttle orbiters, despite the city’s long history with the space program.  Now we know why.

When people in Texas expressed dismay and anger when they learned that a retired space shuttle would be going to New York, and not to Houston, one of New York's Senators said something many Texans found downright insulting.

More than a dozen Texans in Congress are angry and threatening legislative action to block NASA's planned transfer of a space shuttle orbiter from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Virginia to a  museum in New York City.

Houston will not get one of the Space Shuttle orbiters when the Shuttle program ends and the orbiters are retired later this year.  Many people blame partisan politics, and are calling it a deliberate slap in the face for Texas, which is solidly Republican.

They would be good with the fact that we didn't quit after their loss," Sieck said, referring to the 17 astronauts. "We continued on." Retired shuttle launch director Bob Sieck said the U.S. astronauts who died in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire and in the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle accidents would appreciate that the nation didn't give up on exploring space after those