I look forward to making it there someday.

Out of curiosity, do you know what the demographic breakdown is on it’s visitors? For instance, how many are local or from Ohio versus from out of state (and which states)?

Ron, I’m certain many visitors are from the local area (boy/girl scout groups and school groups) as well as those from a short drive away, but some of the big events draw crowds from a significant distance away. When I volunteered there (1994-97) I met many that flew in (some from overseas) or drove quite a ways to get there. I hope you get there soon and I’m certain you’ll agree that it is a great museum…and certainly worthy of showcasing Enterprise or even an orbiter.

Sincerely,
Rob

“Nat’l Museum of the USAF averages OVER a million visitors a year and continues to grow and develop as one of the premier aviation museums in the world”

I look forward to making it there someday.

Out of curiosity, do you know what the demographic breakdown is on it’s visitors? For instance, how many are local or from Ohio versus from out of state (and which states)?

Sincerely,
Lt Col Rob Hecht, USAF

“60 percent of all domestic travelers to Houston are from Texas.”

Reading the comments posted to the Houston newspaper report, apparently some of these yahoos believe only Americans should be allowed to view the orbiters because American taxpayers funded them.

This is another reason why the orbiters belong anywhere else but Houston.

“60 percent of all domestic travelers to Houston are from Texas.”

Coal to Newcastle. Bolden made the correct choices.

“Since 1982, the Intrepid has become a national icon. More than 915,000 people visit each year.”

And that is Intrepid only in NYC.

http://www.nycgo.com/articles/nyc-statistics-page

“Tourism
Total Visitors to NYC 2000-2010* Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2010: 48.8 million”

“Visitors (international and domestic) to New York City in 2006:
43.8 million”

“http://www.collinsmalone.com/website/printing/print_page.asp?domain=collinsmalone.com&rid=3280&pg=HoustonTourismandConvention”

“Houston Tourism
More than 34.4 million people visited the greater Houston area in 2006.”

“60 percent of all domestic travelers to Houston are from Texas.”

And that didn’t happen, not because the Shuttles were retired early (they were retired 25 years late), but because replacements didn’t arrive in time. And why didn’t the replacements arrive in time? Because the Shuttles got in the way. They weren’t part of the solution, they were the major part of the problem. Good riddance to them.

Searching online, I find numbers estimating Space Center Houston attracts about 750,000 guests per year. I know KSCVC attracts about 1.5 million per year.

I suspect that, outside of a few cranks in Houston and Dayton, no one really cares about this. And that continues to be the main problem with space advocacy, an arrogance among some supporters that we’re at the center of the universe when in fact most people couldn’t care less.

People aren’t going to travel to Houston to see a used space shuttle. Point is to display them at places already major tourist destinations already- and LA, NYC, Washington’s Smithsonian and the Florida space center, with Disneyworld and KSC close by, make perfect sense. Houston does not. In a few years, NYC and LA are going to discover that the costs of maintaining these artifacts are going to become a fiscal burden.

Consider the problems Long Beach had with the Spruce Goose. Even after the dome was built around it and the Oueen Mary was near by w/a tourist village set up, interest was minimal. They finally unloaded it and saved a lot of $$ and lease the empty dome for moviemaking. And consider the fate of Freedom 7. In the Smithsonian collection for decades, in the late 70s it was on display in an upper attrium of the NASM, overshadowed bt Glenn’s Friendship 7 down in the main lobby. Then it was eventually stuck into storage, out of view, and ended up at the Naval Academy with Shepard relics on display after his passing. Even Apollo 13’s CM was stuck off in a corner at KSC in the 70s…. then shipped to France for years, then after the film was a hit, brought back home.

The History Channel ran a show several years ago noting that the lawn ornaments at JSC/Houston- the Saturn V and such, were literally disintegrating w/o funding for maintenence. Houston may realize that in the long run, it’s probably better off financially w/o a large, antique orbiter to have to budget for, maintain and fuss over. JSC/Houston best look to the future, not its past.