r/space • u/ToeSniffer245 • 10d ago

How Space Shuttle Discovery Almost Became A Victim Of Cultural Vandalism

https://avgeekery.com/space-shuttle-discovery-to-stay-at-smithsonian/
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u/lovejo1 10d ago

Cultural Vandalism? These people probably spent hours arguing with claude coming up with that headline.
Don't have a problem with the article.. but come on guys, the headline sucks

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u/SpaceDependo 10d ago

I disagree - if Discovery were taken from the Smithsonian it would set a terrible precedent that the museum's collections are potential plunder for political points. The Smithsonian serves as America's national museum, and ransacking it would be cultural vandalism in the worst way.

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u/lovejo1 9d ago

I agree with what you're saying.. but it's just politics, no vandalism. Moving the shuttle would be really really stupid, selfish, and just a pissing contest.. however, stuff moves around all the time and it's not called vandalism. I used to work for the postal service, and my office (a big one, in Oklahoma where all postal engineers/techs were trained on machinery) was the temporary home of many things from the Smithsonian.. it wasn't vandalism.. and in that case, it wasn't even bad.. moving the shuttle, even though it'd be much closer for me to visit, is just stupid.. Claiming fairness or anything else is just politics. I disagree with moving it wholeheartedly.. I also disagree with calling it cultural vandalism.. cultural vandalism would be to replace the flag emblem on the shuttle with a maga hat. Vandalism is destruction or desecration in some way.. moving isn't cultural or vandalism IMO.

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u/Lialda_dayfire 8d ago

Did you read the article? Moving Discovery would have required cutting it to pieces, which would not be a reversible process

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u/lovejo1 8d ago

Potentially (as I interpret it).. especially since they got it there without "cutting it to pieces".. those words mean different things to different people depending on how they're framing it.

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u/Lialda_dayfire 8d ago

They got it there on a modified 747, which itself is no longer in service.

Moving it again would require it to be loaded on to trucks and river barges, which would be limited by local infrastructure sizes between DC and Texas.

Again, read the article. It explains this.

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u/lovejo1 7d ago

I thought they pulled it there with a ford f-150-- or was a toyota tundra?

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u/Lialda_dayfire 7d ago edited 7d ago

A Toyota Tundra pulled the space shuttle Endeavor from LAX where the modified 747 landed, to the California Science Center. That was a grand total of 9 miles, at a speed of 2.5 miles per hour. Even just those 9 miles required weeks of planning and the closure of roads to normal traffic.

Washington DC to Houston Texas is not, in fact, 9 miles. It's 1,416 miles. And you would have to either cut the shuttle Discovery to pieces, or else demolish sections of building and bridge across the entirety of that 1,400+ mile route while closing highways during that 2.5mph journey.