This could be in your house, if you have about $29 million to spare. And an enormous living room. NASA photo
What do you get that person who has everything? The kind of person it’s always tough to shop for because anything he wants, he gets? Well, if you have a few dozen million lying around, you might be able to get a memorable, only-three-of-a-kind gift: a NASA space shuttle!
Because the 30-year-old spaceships will stop flying after this fall, NASA needs to get rid of them. It already promised Discovery to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but that still leaves Atlantis and Endeavour with nowhere to go.
In December 2008, NASA announced it was looking for potential buyers, likely to be either museums or schools. But with a price tag of $42 million each, the space agency got only about 20 inquiries; it’s now lowered the price to $28.8 million, practically a steal. To further sweeten the deal, NASA has moved up the likely delivery date for each shuttle to late 2011, instead of 2012 as originally planned. (They wanted to announce their choices a year before handing over the ships, to make sure the receiving groups would be adequately prepared.)
Of course, NASA isn’t really selling the shuttles; the money’s just to transport and properly display the ships. And if you’re actually interested, you have until 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, February 19, 2010, to
make your request, and be aware that the dollar amounts are just estimates and might change depending on your circumstances.
NASA seems confident it’ll receive more inquiries soon, so be sure to act now if it’s something you want – supplies are limited.