Adler Loses Out on Retired Space Shuttle Derby

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 12, 2011 5:50PM

Sorry, Adler Planetarium. Not even an ambitious pavilion plan could help you land a decommissioned space shuttle for display, now that NASA is ending the shuttle program. NASA is giving the space shuttle Enterprise (currently on display at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum) to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York. The Smithsonian will receive the space shuttle Discovery as a replacement for the Enterprise.

The space shuttle Atlantis will return to the Kennedy Space Center for display after its final mission in June. Endeavour, the final shuttle in NASA's fleet, is earmarked for a permanent home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. For other museums like the Adler, NASA is donating artifacts from the Shuttle program for display.