The plan to move retired space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Houston, Texas, is facing resistance from leftists including Dick Durbin, who has labeled the move a “heist” perpetrated by Texas. Durbin briefly introduced the “Houston, We Have a Problem” amendment to make what he calls a statement against waste.
Ars Technica reports that the space shuttle Discovery, one of NASA’s most historic spacecraft currently on display at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, has become the center of a heated political debate. In April, Republican Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz from Texas introduced the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act,” which aimed to relocate Discovery to Space Center Houston in Texas.
The senators managed to insert a provision related to this goal into the “Big Beautiful Bill” that was signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4. Senator Cornyn celebrated the passing of this provision, stating, “Houston has long been the cornerstone of our nation’s human space exploration program, and it’s long overdue for Space City to receive the recognition it deserves by bringing Space Shuttle Discovery home.”
However, the move has faced significant pushback, particularly from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who has described the effort as a “heist” during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday. Durbin argued that the allocated $85 million for the relocation was grossly insufficient, citing research from NASA and the Smithsonian that estimated the total cost to be closer to $305 million, not including an additional $178 million needed to construct a facility in Houston to house and display the shuttle.
Senator Durbin questioned the legality of Congress removing an artifact from the Smithsonian’s collection, as the institution maintains that it owns Discovery outright following the transfer of “all rights, interest, title, and ownership” from NASA in 2012. “This will be the first time ever in the history of the Smithsonian someone has taken one of their displays and forcibly taken possession of it,” Durbin stated. “What are we doing here? They don’t have the right in Texas to claim this.”
The decision to award Discovery to the Smithsonian was part of a larger process in 2011, where NASA chose to send the retired shuttles to various locations across the country, including the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida and the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Several cities, including Houston and Chicago, had appealed to NASA to be selected as a display site but were ultimately not chosen.
To voice his objections, Senator Durbin introduced the “Houston, We Have a Problem” amendment during the hearing, which aimed to prohibit the use of funds for transferring the decommissioned space shuttle from its current location. However, he withdrew the amendment after making his points, stating, “I think we’re dealing with something called waste. Eighty-five million dollars worth of waste. I know that this is a controversial issue, and I know that there are other agencies, Smithsonian, NASA, and others that are interested in this issue; I’m going to withdraw this amendment, but I’m going to ask my colleagues be honest about it. I hope that we think about this long and hard.”
Read more at Ars Technica here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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