Video: Museum of Flight hoping to acquire Space Shuttle

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SEATTLE - Veteran astronaut Bonnie Dunbar has flown five shuttle missions. Her latest mission as the president of the Museum of Flight is to bring one of them to Seattle.

"Imagine the shuttle on top of a 747 flying around the Space Needle before landing at Boeing field,” she said.

Congress could decide to take three of the shuttles out of service in 2010. NASA is now asking museums and schools around the country to apply to house one.

“To me it's seems part of our heritage and history," said Frank Higbie.

If the space shuttle does land here in Seattle, it wouldn't be in the museum as you know it today.  It would be in a whole new gallery right across the street from the Museum. And you may not need to pay the price of admission to see it.

"It's a special building. We've been planning it.  People traveling down East Marginal Way could see the shuttle through glass as you go by,” said Dunbar.

AP

Space Shuttle Discovery atop NASA Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier jet awaiting departure.

To go beyond the glass you'd have to pay.

Many places are vying for the shuttle, and the Museum of Flight has been planning for it since the 80s.

Whoever wins would have to pay part of the $42 million it would cost to prep one for the public.

"In most cases the federal government steps in and helps mitigate those costs," said Dunbar.

A decision on where those three space shuttles end up is expected by late next year.

Boeing is a major contractor for the Space Shuttle program.