White House told only way to move Space Shuttle Discovery is to chop it up
https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/02/dismantling_discovery/
White House told only way to move Space Shuttle Discovery is to chop it up
https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/02/dismantling_discovery/
43 Comments
Chopping up historical things is something these folks would do for funsies. So I doubt that will be a bar.
This would be disastrous – disassembling Discovery would irreparably destroy large portions of the shuttle’s thermal protection tiles and other components.
I’m organizing folks at [KeepTheShuttle.org](https://KeepTheShuttle.org) to continue to fight back against the relocation, and if you’re interested in helping, please check us out!
Bunch of idiots down there.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
These scum would absolutely destroy the Discovery rather than let the Smithsonian keep it. This is too symbolic of what they’re doing to the entire country.
Why could we fly endeavour but not this one? Genuinely curious I have no clue about any of this.
It was an incredible stupid and wasteful idea to begin with. This administration is a dumpster fire
They don’t mind chopping up a constitution with no repercussions. Why would this hunk of metal bother them?
One of Trumps butt-buddies will get the contract. Absurd and unnecessary project, but that’s these kinda folks….
I am sure our ‘preserve history’ crowd will come out in force and defend this piece of hardware with every bit of fervor they defended those confederate statues.
Right?
right?
Is this the waste fraud and abuse they were all complaining about?
Ah. *There’s* that waste, fraud, and abuse I’ve been hearing so much about
Probably it will cost the government millions more. What a fucking waste of time and money
Maybe just don’t move it? K
I thought the Smithsonian already said no and the federal government doesn’t have the right to move it?
I’m guessing they already know where the Supreme Court is going to say on this issue.
Y’allqueda is a big fan of chopping up historical artifacts.
So it sounds like Discovery is going to get chopped up then. Anyone who supports this administration is dumber than a sack of shit.
Donald Trump is going to destroy a space shuttle.
And then he’ll probably do it again with another one.
it’s also the only way to remove the current potus.
The people forcing this don’t care about it’s historical value or any intrinsic worth, it’s merely a game of grabbing a status symbol.
Remember when this place was cheering for the orange turd? Where are you all now huh?
While we’re doing dumb, pointless things with our artifacts, why don’t we move the USS Arizona to Iowa?
Wow. How does Ted Cruz keep finding new ways to prove he is an irredeemable POS?
Ok guys, hear me out.
We’re gonna get a 747 for FREE, no strings attached, from our super best friends in the Persian Gulf. Strap it to the roof just like the in old days and bingo bango, you can move it anywhere you want.
Thank you Republicans. Really making the country great again aren’t you
For the love of god, PLEASE don’t!! I will never forget seeing that thing in person. I was in complete awe when I saw and I still light up like a little kid on Christmas when I talk about it. These people are flat out ghouls
So long as they get to have and control a thing they really don’t care how much damage is done to it so this won’t stop anything. They never cared about what the shuttle is or what it represents.
Just add some gold leaf over the damage bits and call it a day.
Just a reminder that the federal Government doesn’t even own the Space shuttle.
This whole thing makes as much sense as the government telling Houston to send their baseball stadium to Northern Virginia.
Wait a minute. How did it get there in the first place?
Ya know, for people who like to save money, they sure like to spend it doing useless shit while poor people suffer further
With a little back of a napkin math, I have determined that all you need to avoid having to cut it up into pieces is ~~10 Chinooks lifting it~~ to not relocate it.
They will do so unhesitatingly. They don’t actually want the Shuttle, they just want the power to be able to take it away from us.
They will burn it down just to rule over the ashes, that’s the whole strategy
Doesn’t matter, they’d actually probably prefer this. Texas was given a shuttle that never flew, and they just left it outside forever until NASA told them to put it in a building because it was falling apart from the weather. All that matters is taking something important from what they consider a liberal institution.
Ive seen people move massive items across land. It for sure can be done.
[They literally pulled Endeavor through the streets of Los Angeles to get it to the Science Museum](https://youtu.be/Rom6M8udyI8?si=wVPdyEel1uUWdZ0M). People lined the streets and cheered like the Lakers won another championship.
“The space agency and research institute estimate “that the cost to move Discovery to Houston would, at minimum, be between $120 million and $150 million, exclusive of the cost of building a new exhibit in Houston.” This is considerably more than the $85 million budgeted for transportation and exhibition construction.”
History aside, what a pathetic use of tax dollars
So who are they going to sell the pieces to after it is chopped up?
Why??? Didn’t they just move it few years ago over at the Smithsonian? Why does this read as extremely stupid and pointless?
Or, here me out, we use that money to support ongoing space exploration instead?
Let’s do as much damage as possible in every arena imaginable.
This will be the least of their crimes against humanity.
Haven’t shuttles been relocated over land before? Isn’t there that famous photo of a shuttle riding on the back of an airplane? The Smithsonian is next to a river that connects to the ocean, is moving it by barge not possible? How was it originally transported from Florida to the Smithsonian?
Frankly I call bullshit. And i bet it would be cheeper to label it as a ferry flight/s and use some cranes and one of the old shuttle carriers and just fly the damn thing over.