Museum for the NASA Space Shuttles

2 April 2011 was not just a memorial for 50 years Yuri Gagarin's flight. For NASA, the day has also historic because it coincided with the commemoration of 30 years of space shuttle flight. On 12 April 1981, NASA launched Columbia. Since then, 130 flights have been conducted using some space shuttle: the Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. More than 350 people have been taken in that mission with a total mileage exceeds the distance between the Earth-Jupiter.

After 30 years of flight, space shuttles will be memorable. NASA decided to retire and put space shuttles in a museum. NASA Administrator has announced several museums that became final and permanent halt for the space shuttles. Space shuttle Discovery, which recently retired after a completed mission to the 39th and last in March, will placed in the museum of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, precisely in Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center, near Dulles International Airport, Virginia.

Meanwhile, Endeavour will be rolled for the last time this month will stationed in California Sceince Center, Los Angeles. The place is located just a few miles from Rockwell, where space shuttle was developed and constructed. Another shuttle, Atlantis, will put in visitors complex of Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Atlantis will complete its final mission in June. Atlantis will completing the mission to-135 since its first mission in 1985.

The Enterprise will be removed. It was the first spacecraft which is constructed and has been exhibited at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center, Virginia, since 2003. Later, the Enterprise will be stored in the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

Meanwhile, as already known, the Challenger had an accident on Tuesday, January 28, 1986, at 11:38 am during takeoff. Space shuttle that exploded about 73 seconds after the air above the Florida coast, the Atlantic Ocean, leaving seven crew were killed. Columbia was also shattered because of exploded on February 1, 2003, shortly before the ending time of the 28th mission, STS-107. The shuttle was on fire in the skies of Texas upon entering Earth's atmosphere due to the release of heat insulation layer on its body. In the accident, seven crew were killed.


Space shuttle becomes a very important part to humans history. From this shuttle, human could know more about the universe. One purpose of storing these planes in the museum is in the interests of education. Every museum requires approximately US $ 28.8 million to the cost of shipping and the cost to start the exhibition.