Ohio senators make push for space shuttle

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s congressional delegation is urging NASA to send one of the space shuttles to the U.S. Air Force museum after the fleet is retired later this year.

A letter signed by Sens. Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich says the museum is in position to share an important chapter in space history.

NASA has said it will offer the shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. The space agency hasn’t indicated where the Endeavour and Atlantis will be displayed.

The Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton draws 1.3 million visitors a year.

Other contenders include the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.