GoKawiilNASA has taken a step forward to moving an undetermined spacecraft of a various size on an indefinite date to a yet-to-be-decided location.
Or to put it another way: NASA is seeking to learn more about what it would take to remove the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian in Virginia and relocate it to Houston, as compared to transporting a smaller space capsule from anywhere in the country.
The space agency on Thursday (March 19) released a draft request for proposal (DRFP) for the “NASA Flown Space Vehicle Multimodal Transportation Multiple Award Contract,” seeking to learn how contractors would approach transporting both “large aerospace vehicles and smaller spacecraft capsules.”
The pre-solicitation request is an effort to meet the letter of the law — specifically the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — that requires NASA relocate a vehicle that flew with humans through space to a non-profit display facility within the vicinity of an agency center with ties to the commercial crew program. Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz had intended their legislation to result in Discovery being exhibited at Space Center Houston, but Senate rules required the wording to be more vague.
“My law authorizing and funding the space shuttle Discovery’s movement to Houston is being set into motion thanks to NASA’s announcement, and I applaud Administrator Isaacman for keeping this process moving,” said Sen. Cornyn in a statement issued on Friday.
The law as enacted, though, opened the possibility for an alternate artifact to be delivered to “Space City,” as NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman acknowledged in December 2025.