Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 159— - SPACE EXPLORATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND SCIENCE › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER V— - SPACE SHUTTLE RETIREMENT AND TRANSITION › § 18363
When the Space Shuttle program ends under section 18362, NASA must safely take any remaining shuttle orbiters out of service and prepare them under safety and historic‑preservation rules before calling them surplus government property. The orbiters will be offered for public display and care through a competitive process set by the disposition plan in section 613(a) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 17761(a)). Priority goes to applicants who meet that plan and who will give the best public value, such as improving STEM education or having a historic link to shuttle launch, operations, processing, retrieval, or major contributions to human spaceflight. The Smithsonian Institution, which held the Space Shuttle Enterprise as of October 11, 2001, will decide any new location for Enterprise. Congress may provide whatever funds are needed to carry out these actions. Those funds are in addition to amounts authorized by title I and may be requested by the President as supplemental funding in the appropriate fiscal years.
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The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
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42 U.S.C. § 18363
Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73