shuttle at ellington field

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by Sean

"Houston" is in Houston.

The shuttles went to four places:

South Florida, home to Cape Canaveral
Southern California, home to JPL and Edwards AFB, where it landed
Washington DC, the capital and where the politicians funded it for 30 years
And...New York, home of nothing related to the space program whatsoever.

I think it's BS.

God Damn Right!

This is where we need President Bush as President. If he was in office think this shit would be going to NYC? Fuck no, when it landed in Texas, he'd give the middle finger and say "Fuck you, come and get it if you want it".

However the biggest Fuck You to Houston is that they do get a shuttle. They get a Replica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Explorer

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by Trip

New York is a massive tourist destination, Houston, well not so much.

Pretty much

[derf]

Originally Posted by Trip

New York is a massive tourist destination, Houston, well not so much.

If Houston had a shuttle someone, someday might want to visit (I highly doubt it but it is possible).

[Trip]

Originally Posted by derf

If Houston had a shuttle someone, someday might want to visit (I highly doubt it but it is possible).

They couldn't even keep the refuse that New Orleans dumped in their lap. Those people even fled Houston. They probably are happy about that though, lol.

[Smittie61984]

When people go to LA they're going to star gaze in hopes of snapping a picture of a Kardashian or some other Hollywood celebrity. I doubt anyone flies to LA and thinks "I want to learn something cool at a museum".

Cape Canaveral got tourists who wanted to see a shuttle launch. Since shuttles don't launch anymore I doubt people are going to check out Bumble fuck Florida to watch a bunch of nerds punch formulas into computers.

NYC is the same shit. People go to NYC to imagine they are on Friends living in a ballin apartment on $30k a year in Manhatten. They look at the Empire State Building, Stature of Liberty, then walk to Times Square and say "This place is over crowded and sucks, let's go somewhere else".

I admit Houston wouldn't get much but it'd be respectful to the thousands of employees and researches who spend every second of their life thinking about space research. These people work their ass off in the top schools in the top science programs that allows them to launch a multi-billion dollar bottle rocket and have it dock with ultra-precision into even more expensive floating junk traveling at 17,000mph 200miles from earth.

I think it's a bitch slap in the face to NASA.

[derf]

Its not about respecting anyone, its about advertisement. NASA needs to show off its cool stuff so that people stay interested in the space program.

The three places that get the most visits to tourist attractions that have to do with space and aviation are the Intrepid (NYC), Smithsonian (DC), Cape Canaveral (FL). Southern California and the LA basin in particular is the major tourist destination on the west coast, it has more visitors to the area than any other place west of the mississipi, it also has the largest population within a 2 days drive of anywhere on that side of the country. Its the smart location to put the shuttle if you want maximum visibility of the program. To be nice to people that worked on it would have been cool, but ultimately the long term understanding and affection that the public has for space travel is much more important if NASA wants to have a future, and even is space exploration is to remain viable.

Plus Huston is the cum dumpster of the south/southwest, and youre a Nazi so I win

[Homeslice]

Originally Posted by Smittie61984

I admit Houston wouldn't get much but it'd be respectful to the thousands of employees and researches who spend every second of their life thinking about space research. These people work their ass off in the top schools in the top science programs that allows them to launch a multi-billion dollar bottle rocket and have it dock with ultra-precision into even more expensive floating junk traveling at 17,000mph 200miles from earth.
.

Likely they fled Houston after the program ended, lol

[Smittie61984]

Originally Posted by derf

...To be nice to people that worked on it would have been cool, but ultimately the long term understanding and affection that the public has for space travel is much more important if NASA wants to have a future, and even is space exploration is to remain viable.

Plus Huston is the cum dumpster of the south/southwest, and youre a Nazi so I win

Good point (especially the end part) and I do agree. My guess is that it had more to do wiht a political favor of some sort but it may just benefit the program. Not likely since America is more concerned with whomever is fucking a Kardashian or Britains underfed bony princess. Chicago I think would have been better than NYC. Northwestern was a major player in NASA during the early years, plus it's a huge tourist destination.

Originally Posted by Homeslice

Likely they fled Houston after the program ended, lol

True, kind of like finding a mechanical engineer in Detroit.

I guess I have a vested interest in it. I worked my way into one of the best chemistry programs in the world and I want to work bad for Boeing, Lockhead, or JPL. Especially on the giant bottle rockets. I've worked extremely hard to get where I am and it felt like a slap in the face of my predecessors.

[Sixxxxer]

The Shuttle's never really had much to do with Houston other than it being where the missions where transferred over to once they reached orbit...They took off in Florida...And Given the weather conditions...Landed in Florida...Cali was used a few times and ONCE in new Mexico...Mission control was in Houston...Not the shuttles.

[Smittie61984]

Though Houston has pretty much everything to do with US space exploration if the argument is that Houston didn't really have much to do with the Shuttle then you could argue that the Shuttle should be at the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, AL. They do the main research of the propulsion of the booster rockets and since that is what actually gets that giant glider into space they should have it.

Still, other than "tourism" which could have been solved with the mock up that Houston is getting, I don't see why they can't get a shuttle.