The controversial plan to move the space shuttle Discovery to Houston reportedly has a powerful new backer.
Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead NASA, has pledged his support for Discovery’s relocation, according to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
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According to that statement, Cornyn met on Monday with Isaacman, the billionaire founder of the payment-processing company Shift4 and a private astronaut who has funded and commanded two missions to Earth orbit with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
During the meeting, the pair “discussed NASA’s role in maintaining America’s competitive edge over China and other foreign adversaries in space exploration by returning man to the moon to acquire critical minerals and resources vital to national security and continuing to bolster NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, as the human spaceflight center of excellence and innovation,” the statement reads.
And, it adds, “Mr. Isaacman committed to follow Sen. Cornyn’s provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now law, to move the space shuttle Discovery in one piece from Virginia to its rightful home in Space City.”
Billionaire Jared Isaacman (left), President Donald Trump’s pick for NASA chief, met with Senator John Cornyn on Dec. 1, 2025. (Image credit: Office of U.S. Senator John Cornyn)
Discovery was the busiest vehicle in NASA’s space shuttle program, flying a total of 39 missions from 1984 to 2011. That latter year was when the shuttle program retired, as NASA began working to outsource its crewed orbital missions to private industry.
The four surviving space shuttles were given to museums across the country, to preserve the United States’ spaceflight heritage and help inspire young people to embark on careers in space science and exploration.
Enterprise, a test vehicle that never reached orbit, went to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. Atlantis went on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Endeavour headed to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, and Discovery ended up at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. (Two other space shuttles, Challenger and Columbia, were lost during tragic failed missions that killed a total of 14 astronauts.)
The space shuttle Discovery in action. (Image credit: NASA)
JSC in Houston, the seat of NASA’s crewed spaceflight program, applied for an orbiter but lost out. Cornyn and Cruz view this as unacceptable, so in April they introduced the “Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act,” which directed NASA to move Discovery from the Smithsonian to Space City.
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That bill didn’t make it out of committee, but the two senators got it included as a provision in the 1,000-page “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4. (The language of the provision is vague to abide by the rules of such “reconciliation” bills, but it clearly refers to Discovery and JSC.)
The bill also allocates $85 million to pay for the move and build the shuttle’s new display facility.
The plan has generated a fair amount of debate and controversy. For example, the Smithsonian has argued that it now owns Discovery, so the U.S. government cannot just come and take it.
Smithsonian officials have also contended that moving Discovery — which is 122 feet (37.2 meters) long, with a wingspan of 78 feet (23.8 m) — might require at least a partial disassembly of the orbiter, which would damage its value as a historical artifact. (This concern probably explains why Cornyn’s statement on Monday specifies that Discovery will be moved “in one piece.”) The museum also estimated that transporting Discovery would cost more than the bill provides — about $120 million to $150 million.
Isaacman could soon be in a position to help grease the wheels on Discovery’s proposed move. The U.S. Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will hold a nomination hearing for him on Wednesday (Dec. 3).
It won’t be the first such hearing for Isaacman; Trump first nominated him for the top NASA job in January, then abruptly withdrew his name on May 31, a week or so before he was expected to be confirmed. Trump renominated Isaacman in early November.