From Yahoo News:

Texas Congressmen Press NASA for Documents on Shuttle Display Venues

By Mark Whittington | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 5 hrs ago

This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.

Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

• Email
• Print

According to the Houston Chronicle, a group of Texas congressmen are still unhappy the Obama administration snubbed the home of the Johnson Spaceflight Center when it came to displaying aspace shuttle orbiter.

The congressmen, led by Pete Olson, are demanding answers.

Why are the Texas congressmen unhappy?

The problem started in April, when NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the selection of the final resting places of the space shuttle orbiter fleet. Discovery went to the Smithsonian in Washington. Atlantis went to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Endeavour went to the California Space Center. Enterprise, the drop test article that was never launched into space, went to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum in New York.

Houston, where the control center of all American space flights has resided since 1965, was snubbed, according to Texas politicians. Space Center Houston had planned to display a space shuttle orbiter next to the Saturn V, with a climate controlled enclosure.

A NASA Inspector General Report that failed to find undue political influence has not assuaged the outrage of Texans. Bolden changed the criteria for displaying a shuttle from the principle one being a historical relationship with the shuttle program to the location being a high-traffic area for tourists.

The New York Relocation

To add fuel to the fire, in September, New York officials decided to change the venue for the display of the Enterprise. Instead of an enclosure at a pier next to the Intrepid Air and Space Museum, Enterprise would be parked in a building to be built in a parking lot across the West Side Highway from the Intrepid on 12th Avenue. This move had the Texans crying bait and switch.

What do the Texas congressmen want?

The Texas congressmen are demanding documents. Along with members from Utah, Mississippi and Ohio, the congressmen want the Intrepid Museum's original design proposal, the minutes of a meeting that took place in April in which various display plans were discussed, and a report whether moving Enterprise to New York would cause damage to the shuttle's structure.

NASA's official position is it has no plans to re-evaluate the decision to display Enterprise in New York. NASA maintains New York's decision to display the shuttle across the highway from the Intrepid Museum is in compliance with obligations to the space agency.

Texas resident Mark Whittington writes about state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network.