NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Tuesday announced the museums where the four space shuttles will go on permanent display once the shuttle fleet retires later this year. The National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, was not one of them. Instead, the Shuttle Atlantis will go to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex in Florida; Shuttle Discovery will reside at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia; Shuttle Endeavour will rest at the California Science Center in Los Angeles; and Shuttle Enterprise will relocate from the Udvar-Hazy Center to the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in New York. NASA said the Air Force museum will receive some shuttle artifacts: the nose cap assembly and crew compartment trainer as well as orbital maneuvering system engines. Bolden’s announcement coincided with the 30th anniversary of the first shuttle launch and 50th anniversary of manned space flight. (See also Air Force Museum release)
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.