The shuttles were awarded in April to museums in suburban Washington, Los Angeles, Cape Canaveral, Florida and New York based on recommendations by a NASA team and a decision by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
Congressional and local officials for two of the losing cities had asked for an investigation, claiming that political influences were involved in the bidding process.
“We found no evidence that the team’s recommendation or the administrator’s decision were tainted by political influence of any other improper consideration,” Inspector General Paul Martin wrote in the report released Thursday. “Moreover, we found no attempt by White House officials to direct or influence Bolden’s decision making.”
The decision was based on attendance, population, funding and the facility. The space agency said 13 of the bidders met their requirements and rated those on several categories.
The inspector general found that there was a scoring error for the Air Force Museum in Dayton and it should have tied with Cape Canaveral and New York. However, NASA chief Bolden said he still would have picked the same cities because they had bigger populations and more international visitors.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who was one of the officials who had asked for the investigation, said in a statement Thursday that while NASA may have followed the rules in selecting the sites, it showed “incredible bad judgement.”
He said the selection criteria gave more weight to international visitors than to geographic diversity of shuttle locations.
“It is outrageous that easy access for foreign visitors was deemed more important than access for visitors from America’s heartland,” Brown said in a statement.
NASA also defended its selections in a statement released on Thursday.
“The report from the Office of Inspector General validates the conclusions NASA reached in determining the locations where the space shuttle orbiters will be displayed. NASA firmly stands by its decisions.”
Space Center Houston ranked near the bottom of the list. It scored low for attendance, international visitors, museum accreditation and difficulty transporting a shuttle there. Museums in Chicago, Seattle, Riverside California, San Diego and McMinnville, Oregon all had a higher score than Houston.
Bolden told investigators that personally, “I would have loved to have placed an Orbiter in Houston,” but that it had lower attendance and fewer international visitors than the winners.
Texas Representative Kevin Brady criticized the selection process after the report was released.
“It’s clear to me this was rigged from the beginning and it was pretty clear Houston would not receive the orbiter,” he said in a statement.
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum had already been promised one shuttle for its hanger in Dulles, Virginia. It will get Discovery, and give up the Enterprise, which is a test vehicle that never flew in orbit.
Atlantis will stay in Cape Canaveral and go to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, while Endeavour will find its new retirement in California Science Center in Los Angeles.
The Florida and California museums will have to pay at least $20 million for transportation cost and to make the shuttles safe for display.
