Want your own space shuttle?
Interested in owning your own space shuttle? NASA is offering their slightly used shuttles starting at the low low price of $42 million dollars, or 42,000 easy payments $999.99!
NASA has put the call out to schools, museums, and various other “appropriate organizations” that might be interested. The $42 million dollar price tag includes the estimated $6 million cost of preparing the shuttle and mounting it to the back of a modified jumbo jet for delivery to your local airport. The price, NASA warns, will be largely affected by the distance between the shuttle’s final delivery location and the airport.
Now, I hate to rain on your parade but, before you start trying to figure out how much time a space shuttle could shave off of your daily commute, you should know that NASA will only deliver the shuttles to buyers who will keep them in an indoor climate controlled display. And, just so that you don’t get any ideas, the shuttles will be delivered without any main engines.
Based on Bush’s plan to have astronauts return to the moon by 2020, NASA will retire Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour by September 30, 2010. Obama has, however, hinted at the possibility of keeping the shuttles in use beyond 2010. If that’s the case, I’m sure that there will be a few very disappointed shuttle ownership hopefuls. Although, I’m sure that disappointment will quickly turn to a sense of relief as I can’t imagine anything triggering buyer’s remorse more aggresively than a $24 million space shuttle that does nothing but occupy space (just not quite in the way that you would have hoped).
