Texas politicians warn Smithsonian it must not lobby to retain its space shuttle

Texas lawmakers, seemingly not content with getting NASA's endorsement to move a retired space shuttle to Houston, are now calling for an investigation into how the Smithsonian allegedly objected to relocating the orbiter it has owned for more than a decade. Senator John Cornyn and Representative Randy Weber on Thursday sent a letter to John Roberts, the Smithsonian Institution's chancellor and chief justice of the United States, suggesting that the Smithsonian's staff may have violated the law in their efforts to block legislation authorizing the space vehicle's transfer. "Public reporting suggest that the Smithsonian Institution has taken affirmative steps to oppose the passage and implementation of this provision. These steps reportedly include contacting staff of the Senate Appropriations and Rules Committees to express opposition, as well as engaging members of the press to generate public resistance to the provision's enforcement," wrote Cornyn and Weber to Roberts. Battle began in April In April, Cornyn and Weber introduced matching bills in the Senate and House to remove Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, and display it at Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas. Generic language intended to achieve the same result was then inserted into the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which was enacted on July 4. On Tuesday, in accordance with the bill's requirements, acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy "made an identification" but did not publicly disclose his choice of space vehicles to be moved. Cornyn later said that Duffy approved sending a space shuttle to Houston. Neither Duffy nor Cornyn would confirm which of NASA's three remaining space-flown shuttles was to be moved. Endeavour is the property of the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Atlantis, on display at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, is still NASA property. In a statement, the Smithsonian affirmed that it has held "all rights, title, interest and ownership" of Discovery since 2012.