Discovery, which has completed 37 missions into space and 5,247 orbits, has already been promised to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, but shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour are still available, the Independent reports. ...
Nasa decided to sell the shuttles ahead of their retirement later this year. They are set to be replaced by the new Ares 1-X rocket, which is due to take over all manned space flights in 2015.
If the new price is still too daunting, an even bigger bargain comes in the shape of the shuttle's engines - no longer required once the craft is in a museum. The agency offered them for sale at between $400,000 and $800,000, but there were no takers. They are now offering them free, to anyone with the ability to take them home. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7014890/Nasa-puts-Discovery-space-shuttle-up-for-sale-for-17.7m.html
Reminds me of PlanetSpace's Geoff Sheerin (President and CEO of Canadian Arrow) who a few years back proposed space tourism launching from Nova Scotia's Cape Breton.
Canadian Arrow has been studying the blueprints for Wernher von Braun’s V2 rockets in designing their prototype for a launch unit. http://traveltonovascotia.com/2008/01/26/space-tourism-in-cape-breton-2/
The company chose Cape Breton because it lies at approximately the same latitude as Russia's launch facility, the Baikonur Cosmodrome. ...
The Nova Scotia government has already signed an agreement to provide about 120 acres of land for the project that conceivably could rival the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
"It sounds like we are setting goals for reaching for the stars," Chamber of Commerce Vice President Owen Fitzgerald told CTV Atlantic. "Space travel is a big thing and it's going to be a big thing in the future. They say there are some advantages here in Cape Breton geographically -- let's use that to our benefit." www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060816/cape_breton_space_060816/20060816?hub=Canada
The moon is seen near the Space Shuttle Discovery STS-119 as it sits on the launch pad while it is prepared for launch March 11, 2009 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. -Photograph by: Eliot J. Schechter
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