NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman recently expressed skepticism that the Discovery shuttle would be moved to Texas, seeming to suggest that the Johnson Space Center would receive a different vehicle instead.

The battle for the Space Shuttle Discovery appears to be far from over, and the proposed relocation from Virginia to the Lone Star State may not happen. Just before the end of 2025, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took over the post on December 18, indicated in an interview that a different spacecraft could land deep in the heart of Texas.

“My predecessor has already selected a vehicle,” Isaacman said in a CNBC interview on December 27—referring to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who led NASA as acting chief until this month. “My job now is to make sure that we can undertake such a transportation within the budget dollars that we have available and, of course most importantly, ensuring the safety of the vehicle.”

In October, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget requested a timeline from NASA and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, which currently maintains the Space Shuttle Discovery at its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, to prepare to move the historic spacecraft to Texas within 18 months. The office further called upon the space agency and the famed museum to determine the “actual cost” required for such a move.

In response, NASA and the Smithsonian told the White House that the move would cost at a minimum “between $120 and $150 million, exclusive of the cost of building a new exhibit in Houston.” That was far higher than the $85 million budgeted for transportation and exhibition.

The Discovery Would Need to Be Cut Apart for Transport

In July, Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz introduced the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act,” which would allocate $85 million to relocate the Space Shuttle to the Lone Star State. It was included as a provision in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law last summer by President Donald Trump.

The Republican lawmakers argued that the Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center led all of the Space Shuttle flights, while the astronauts who flew aboard the shuttles also lived and trained in Houston. The center currently houses a shuttle replica on a 747 carrier aircraft.

However, beyond the high cost to transport the Space Shuttle Discovery, it was also determined last fall that the spacecraft would need to be partially dismantled to make the move—something it wasn’t designed for, and which critics warn could cause irreversible damage to the historic vehicle.

Space Shuttle Discovery completed a total of 39 missions between 1984 and 2011, spending a combined 365 days in orbit. It was delivered to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) in April 2012, carried on a modified Boeing 747 from the Kennedy Space Center.

Beyond the cost to move the spacecraft and the issue of likely needing to dismantle it, an additional problem for Texas is that NASA “gave the shuttle to the Smithsonian outright in 2012,” Space.com reported. As the Smithsonian opposes the move, the government would need to establish legal repossession the orbiter before it could be transported.

Houston Will Get a Spacecraft, Isaacman Says

In the recent interview with CNBC, Isaacman acknowledged that the cost and the safety of the vehicle are now being considered. If the move doesn’t happen, Mission Control in Houston would be at the top of the list to receive a future space vehicle.

“If we can’t do that, you know what? We’ve got spacecraft that are going around the moon with Artemis 2, 3, 4 and 5,” Isaacman explained.

The Artemis 2 mission could send NASA astronauts around the moon as early as February 5. It would mark the first time humans have circled the moon in more than 50 years. Plans call for Artemis 3 to land astronauts back on the lunar surface by 2028, with at least two more missions to follow.

“One way or another, we’re going to make sure the Johnson Space Center gets their historic spacecraft right where it belongs,” Isaacman added.

Whether that will make everyone happy isn’t clear, but it could help ensure that the Space Shuttle Discovery isn’t damaged as a result of interstate squabbling.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

The post Space Shuttle Discovery May Not Head to Texas After All appeared first on The National Interest.