Congress’ newly passed federal budget bill will fund moving the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., to Houston.
The nearly 900-page spending bill, dubbed by President Donald Trump as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” includes a provision allocating $85 million to transport the spacecraft and place it on public exhibition at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
The provision is worded confusingly to describe the “space vehicle” being moved with all of its characteristics except for its specific name. The law established a deadline of 18 months for the move to occur.
At least half of the funds used for the move are required to be paid out by September 30, 2028, with all of the funds to be paid by September 30, 2029. Unspecified extra “outlay” costs associated with the move are to be paid by September 30, 2034.
The move from D.C. to Texas brings Discovery to the home of NASA Mission Control. The effort to do so was spearheaded by Republican U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz via previous legislation called the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act.”
That bill was presented to Congress in April with the goal of moving Discovery to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for public exhibition. It eventually found its way stitched into the recently signed One Big Beautiful Bill.
In 1984, Discovery became the third shuttle to achieve space flight—and was used as a “return-to-flight” orbiter after the Challenger disaster in 1986. The shuttle flew 39 missions and was responsible for launching the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.
