NASA selling off Discovery Space Shuttle for 28.2 million dollars - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Reports indicate that NASA is selling off the Discovery Space Shuttle for 28.2 million dollars. The soon-to-be redundant shuttle was the ultimate boy's toy, flying faster and higher than any other machine in history. According to a report in the Telegraph, it was originally worth 42 million dollars, but the price has plummeted to take in the cost of hauling the monster from the Kennedy Space Centre to a major US airport. Discovery, which has completed 37 missions into space and 5,247 orbits, has already been promised to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, but shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour are still available. NASA is considering mulling the possibility of putting Enterprise, a shuttle prototype that never made it to space, on sale. NASA decided to sell the shuttles ahead of their retirement later this year. They are set to be replaced by the new Ares 1-X rocket, which is due to take over all manned space flights in 2015. If the new price is still too daunting, an even bigger bargain comes in the shape of the shuttle's engines - no longer required once the craft is in a museum.