A Space Shuttle In New York City?

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Both the Astronomy geek and the NASA nerd in The Big Adventure think that this news is nothing short of frickin' awesome: The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum is lobbying/bidding to add one of three soon-to-be-retired NASA Space Shuttle to its permanent collection of exhibits. The always savvy US Government decided that after Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis fly their last missions next year, each would be sold to spend their twilight years in museums across the country.

According to recent updates, there is a solid chance that the Intrepid Museum in NYC could land one of the shuttles. You know, no big deal, just going display the pinnacle in technology and space exploration from the last thirty years. Keeping their eye on the prize, the museum even has a couple of sketches showcasing how they anticipate the exhibit will look. The Big Adventure would prefer the shuttle be standing in launching position on the Hudson shoreline visible from miles around rather than in it's landing position, but we'll take what we can get.

Currently the Intrepid Museum is housed largely on the giant retired aircraft carrier of the same name which floats in the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan right at 6th Street. (Worth a visit from March to October, but go early in the day to avoid the influx of tourists - it gets way too crowded). One cool connection that is apparently helping to keep the city's bidding hopes alive is that years ago, The Intrepid was used to pluck NASA astronauts out of the sea after splashing down in the ocean. The history, folks, The History!

if the Intrepid Space-Air Museum does end up with a Space Shuttle, you can bet your bottom dollar that a visit will be included as part of a Big Adventure. We just hope that robot Jinx doesn't accidentally send us, Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston and the rest of the Space Camp crew into space -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDQxc9yLH3A. 

Some more info for ya can be found on the Intrepid's site. http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/shuttle/
And get the whole story here From this NY Daily News Article from 10/1