One second-hand space shuttle: Yours for $29m

theregister.co.uk

18 points·gaius··9 comments

Oh boy... Along with the launch and repair facilities, this would be the dream gift for an aspiring supervillain.

My birthday is March 3rd ;-)

I wonder if they would bundle some spare SSMEs for the same price.

From the sound of it they will only sell to federal and state government organisations - which makes me wonder whether they would achieve a higher price if they sold it to anyone willing to bid, no questions asked. (Just put the damn thing on ebay?)

There's likely quite a bit of classified material in the shuttle that they wouldn't like to give out. Perhaps that all gets stripped out before delivery though.

Admittedly, I am uninformed here, but what is the plan to maintain manned space flight in the interim between now and whenever they complete the next vehicle platform?

We're going to depend on the Russians. So much for American know-how :/

We definitely know how to outsource.

Lev Andropov: It's stuck, yes?

Watts: Back off! You don't know the components!

Lev Andropov: [annoyed] Components. American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!

What happens when Michael Bay needs this back to destroy an earth bound comet?

Maybe you could stick it in your backyard and just sell tickets to the "Space Experience" like this guy did with an old Airbus 300 in India:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2558...

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