Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act

This bill would require NASA and the Smithsonian Institution to transfer the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum near Washington, DC to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The transfer would need to be completed within 18 months of the bill becoming law. NASA and the Smithsonian would jointly develop a detailed transfer plan, including timeline and cost estimates, which must be submitted to Congress within 90 days.

Once physically transferred, the Smithsonian would transfer ownership of the shuttle to NASA within one year. The shuttle would then be placed on public display within 5 miles of the Johnson Space Center to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. NASA could subsequently transfer ownership to a nonprofit organization, provided it maintains the shuttle on public display for educational purposes in the same geographic area.

The bill authorizes whatever funding is necessary to carry out the transfer. This is a standard bill that would require presidential signature to become law. Currently, the bill has been introduced but has not yet received committee action, and most introduced bills do not advance further.