NASA Announces Museum Locations for Space Shuttles After Retirement

Proposed Shuttle display at Kennedy Center (Image Credit NASA)

NASA has announced where the four shuttle orbiters will be located for permanent display after the Space Shuttle Program ends.

Enterprise in New York City

Enterprise, the first Space Shuttle ever built, will will be moved to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.  Over 150,000 people signed a petition to bring Enterprise to New York City and the museum expects more than a million people a year to visit to see the Shuttle exhibition.

Discovery at Smithsonian

Discovery will be based at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.  The Space Shuttle will be displayed in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, replacing Space shuttle Enterprise which is currently on display and has been seen by nine million visitors since 2003.

Endeavour  for California Science Center 

Endeavour, which is preparing for its final flight at the end of this month is going to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, where it will become the centre piece of the museum's Humans in Space exhibition,

Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center

Atlantis, which will fly the last planned shuttle mission in June, will be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Center is building a home for Atlantis in the marquee element of the Space Center Visitor Complex that will  include displays for viewing the space shuttle in flight, showing how the spacecraft worked and provide a viewing points for visitors to see get a close up look at the Shuttle.