Jan 15, 2010

Michael Curie Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1100 michael curie@nasa gov

RELEASE: 10-012

NASA REVISES COST AND SCHEDULE FOR DISPLAYING RETIRED SHUTTLES

WASHINGTON -- NASA has issued a follow-up Request for Information, or RFI, for ideas from education institutions, science museums and other appropriate organizations about the community's ability to acquire and publicly display orbiters after the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program

The original RFI in December 2008 noted that a potential shuttle recipient would have to pay an estimated $42 million for the cost of "safeing" an orbiter, preparing it for display and ferrying it to a U S destination airport NASA has updated the requirements and tasks needed to make each orbiter safe for disposition The agency will not ask recipients to provide the funds for this activity Except for cost and scheduled delivery changes, the 2008 and 2010 RFIs are virtually the same In this follow-up RFI, NASA revised the estimated display preparation and ferrying costs to $28 8 million

The schedule for transferring the orbiters may be six months earlier than originally anticipated NASA also desires to make selections a year before receipt of the orbiters, so recipient organizations will have sufficient time to conduct any fundraising activities necessary to support preparation and ferry costs

RFI responses are due to NASA by 11:59 p m EST on Friday, Feb 19, 2010 Organizations that responded to the original RFI do not need to resubmit a full response, but should clarify their positions with respect to these changes

NASA is planning to transfer space shuttle Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum Shuttle orbiters Endeavour and Atlantis will be available for placement no earlier than July, 2011

For additional information and to view the RFI, visit:

http://www nasa gov/transition

For additional information about the shuttle program, visit:

http://www nasa gov/shuttle

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