In Meeting with NASA Administrator Bolden, Brown Pushes for Shuttle Atlantis to Land in Dayton
Brown Fought to Have Critical Provision Included in Recently-Passed NASA Authorization Bill that Kept Dayton in the Running
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) continues to push for NASA to land Space Shuttle Atlantis in Dayton. Today, Brown met with NASA Administrator Major Gen Charles F Bolden, USMC (Ret.) urging him to locate the retired Shuttle at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. During the meeting, Brown presented Administrator Bolden with a “Land the Shuttle in Dayton” pin. 
“I made the case to Administrator Bolden that Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is the right choice to house the Shuttle Atlantis,” Brown said. “Ohio, as the birthplace of aviation and within a day’s drive for 60 percent of the American population, would be extraordinarily well-suited to host the Shuttle, and I plan to continue pushing for Ohio as the decision process continues.”
NASA is retiring its Space Shuttle program—established in the 1970s— and will locate two of the three remaining operating Shuttles in museums around the U.S. The NASA Authorization Act names selection criteria for the museums to receive a retired Space Shuttle for exhibition.
During Brown’s meeting with Bolden, the Administrator made no guarantees that the Shuttle would land in Dayton, but there have been several promising developments recently. President Obama’s FY 2012 budget request allocates $14 million for the preparation and delivery of the Space Shuttle Atlantis to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton.
Brown has led the fight to land the Shuttle in Dayton. Last week, he and U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (OH-3) led the Ohio Congressional delegation in urging Administrator Bolden to locate a retired Shuttle National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Brown successfully stripped a harmful provision from the NASA Authorization Act during Senate consideration last summer. The provision would have given priority to museums directly connected to Shuttle operations. As a result of Brown’s amendment, locations that have made significant contributions to human space flight, like Dayton’s NMUSAF, are also eligible.
In October 2010, Brown visited the NMUSAF to give an update on efforts to bring a retired Space Shuttle to Dayton. Brown was joined by Lt. General Charlie Metcalf (Ret.), then-Director of the National Museum of the United States Air Force and Jim Leftwich, Director of the Dayton Development Coalition.
Last April, Brown led a bipartisan group of his Ohio delegation colleagues in sending a letter of support for the transfer of a retired orbiter to Acting NASA Administrator Charles Scolese.
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