Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum Show Interest In Obtaining Shuttle For Collection

The Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum, which reopened with great fanfare late last year after a multi-year refurbishment, is now putting forth an effort to obtain one of the three remaining space shuttles for its extensive collection.

Museum officials have taken the first small step toward acquiring one of the three space shuttles that NASA plans to hand off when the shuttle program ends next year. They are enlisting support from elected officials and former astronauts for their idea of adding a decommissioned shuttle to the Intrepid’s eclectic collection of military aircraft, a Mercury space capsule, a submarine and a Concorde passenger jet.

They dream of housing the shuttle in a glass enclosure on the end of Pier 86 at 46th Street on the West Side of Manhattan, home to the Intrepid since 1982. But they have plenty of competition from museums around the country, including the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

“We have never shied away from competition or a challenge,” said Bill White, president of the foundation that operates the Intrepid museum. “This is very important to us, and it would just be an extraordinary, priceless treasure for New York City to receive. You’re going to see a very public campaign for this in the next few months.”

The Intrepid museum was one of 20 institutions that responded by a March 17 deadline to ask NASA about its plan to give away the last of the shuttles: Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis. The space agency estimates the cost of preparing and delivering them at $42 million each.

The Smithsonian has already notified NASA of its interest in the oldest of the shuttles, Discovery, but considers the cost prohibitive, said Michael J. Neufeld, chairman of the Smithsonian’s space history division. “Our official position is we don’t have the money to pay for the costs at all,” Dr. Neufeld said.

The Intrepid has shown the ability to raise vast sums of money, and that would be put to the test in order to obtain a shuttle for its collection, especially in the current economic climate.

However, the museum would greatly benefit from adding a shuttle to its collection as it would become one of the star attractions, alongside the Concorde, an A-12 (which many mistake for the SR-71 Blackbird), and the Intrepid herself.