Dayton Daily News - Ohio Congressional Delegation Lobbying For Retured Shuttle

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By John Nolan

Ohio's congressional delegation sent a letter Monday urging President Obama to continue his support for assigning NASA's soon-to-be-retired space shuttle Atlantis to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force for permanent display.

The letter, led by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, to Obama was the latest in a series of letters in recent months to the White House and NASA urging that the Air Force museum receive an orbiter.

NASA has promised the orbiter Discovery, which returned to Earth from its final mission last week, to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. NASA's administrator, Charles F. Bolden Jr., a former shuttle commander and retired Marine Corps major general, has said he will announce on April 12 which sites will get the two remaining shuttles, Atlantis and Endeavour.

The signers of the congressional letter wrote that they support the Air Force's desire to receive Atlantis because, since it flew five Defense Department missions, the Air Force museum would be an appropriate display location. They noted that the museum, located on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, draws 1.3 million visitors annually and is within a day's drive of 60 percent of the U.S. population.

Rep. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek, has invited Bolden to visit Wright-Patterson. A date is being worked out, said Jay Stricker, Austria's military affairs director.

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