Retiring Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, is launching one last try to make a new satellite to the National Air and Space Museum fly through Congress.
He persuaded the Senate Rules Committee on Thursday to endorse building an annex to the museum - which is in Washington - about 20 miles away at the Washington Dulles Airport in northern Virginia to display large aircraft, including the space shuttle Enterprise.Garn has twice passed similar measures through the Senate, but the House has killed them. Some House members argue that such federal Smithsonian Institution museums should be spread throughout the country, and have pushed Denver as an alternate location.
Garn - who is a member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, and even is depicted by a mannequin in the Washington museum as the first senator in space - attacked "forces that wish to dilute and disperse the Air and Space Museum."
He said the museum in Washington has become one of the most popular attractions in the country, and it makes sense to have the facility for larger aircraft nearby.
Those aircraft - including the Enterprise, the space shuttle prototype used in early non-orbital flights - are currently stored in makeshift facilities at Dulles and at the Smithsonian's preservation facilities at Silver Hill, Md.