WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE — Construction of a building to house the spacecraft collection and former presidential aircraft at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force could start in 2012 if fundraising stays on track, museum officials said Monday.

That 200,000-square-foot building would house a retired space shuttle, if the Air Force museum is ultimately awarded one by NASA for permanent display. It would also house the museum’s seven former Air Force aircraft dubbed “Air Force Ones” that carried U.S. presidents.

NASA may not announce until summer 2011 which contenders will be awarded the retired shuttles because of a revamped schedule for the orbiters that will have them flying well into 2011, said museum director Charles Metcalf and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who visited the museum Monday. The government previously had planned to retire the shuttle fleet this year.

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