NASA recession deal: Cheap used shuttles
Now you can get into a nice 1970s model for only $28.8 million. For that low price, you'll also get a spare engine.
Used NASA Space Shuttles on sale!
If you're looking for a deal on used space shuttles, you are in luck.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is slashing the price of its fleet of 1970s-era space shuttles by more than 30%, to $28.8 million from $42 million, in hopes of garnering more interest in the used shuttles.
When NASA first said it would sell the shuttles, at the height of the financial market meltdown in December 2008, it generated only 20 inquiries.
NASA based the price on an estimate of how much it would cost to transport the shuttles from Kennedy Space Center, where they are currently housed, to a major U.S. airport.
The sale is targeted at museums and universities, and interested parties have until Feb. 19 to make a request.
Discovery is already promised to the Smithsonian Institution'sNational Air and Space Museum, but Atlantis and Endeavour are available.
"We're confident that we'll get other takers," NASA spokesman Mike Currie told The Associated Press.
And for the low, low cost of less than $29 million, NASA will throw in a used shuttle engine. NASA initially priced the engines at $400,000 to $800,000.
NASA said the delivery date for the shuttles will now be the second half of 2011 instead of 2012.
