Dayton Business Journal...
Shuttle Report: Errors in process, Dayton still left out
by Joe Cogliano
Friday, August 26, 2011 

A new report shows a NASA error prevented the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force from being rated as high as two other facilities that won retired Space Shuttles. However, the report said NASA’s top man still would have shunned the Dayton-area museum in favor of places that had better international access. 

The region received a major blow in April when NASA selected sites on the East and West coast for retired space shuttles. Local officials felt the museum had a strong chance of securing a shuttle with Dayton’s legacy as the birthplace of aviation and extensive space travel testing history at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base    . 

The report, issued Thursday by the NASA Office of Inspector General, said an unintentional “cut and paste” error made during the final process to chart scoring criteria gave the Air Force Museum fewer points in a category than it should have earned in a category about risks associated with transporting a shuttle. 

Without the error, the Air Force Museum would have scored as well as the Kennedy Space Center’s Visitor Complex in Florida, which will house Atlantis’ and The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York, which will house Enterprise. 

“I was very disappointed to learn today that NASA’s site selection process was not conducted in a more thorough and careful manner,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, in a statement. “I remain convinced that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the National Museum of the Air Force would have been an appropriate place for the shuttle to land.” 

Apparently, the correct score still wouldn’t have made a difference in the April decision by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. 

“Bolden told us that while it was disappointing that this error had not been caught prior to his final decision, had he been informed of a tie he would have made the same decision,” the report said. “He said this was because the Air Force Museum was unable to commit to raising the $28.8 million required to reimburse NASA for an Orbiter and because the Intrepid and the Kennedy Visitor Complex had larger regional populations and better access for international visitors. He noted that during his travels as Administrator he had visited many of the top-scoring institutions and that in addition to the information provided by the Team he relied on his own subjective view of the sites’ strengths and weaknesses to reassure himself that he was making the correct decision.” 

The other shuttles went to a Smithsonian facility near Washington, D.C. (Discovery) and California Science Center in Los Angeles charges (Endeavour). 

Local and state elected officials had blasted the final site decision, including U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who called for a federal investigation over the process. 

The NASA report also said that there was no evidence Bolden’s decision was tainted by political influence or other improper considerations. 

The Air Force Museum sits on the grounds of Wright-Patt, just outside of Dayton. Officials expected a shuttle win to more than double its count of annual 1.3 million visitors. 

Read it with links at Dayton Business Journal