NASA announced that it plans to donate and sell the shuttles once they will be retired in two years. One of them will be donated to the Smithsonian, while the other will be available for any appropriate organization, such as an educational institution or a science museum, willing and able to cover the costly price tag.

The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC will receive shuttle Discovery and this should be considered an extremely fortunate situation, as any other institution looking to aquire a shuttle will have to pay close to $42 million, as $28 million are needed to remove hazardous materials from the shuttle, around $5.8 million will cover the transportation and another $8 million will be used to get the shuttle ready for its public display.

The engines will also be available, and their prices will range from $400,000 and $800,000.

"These are national assets, national treasures and something that NASA feels the public would want to see displayed publicly for years to come," explained NASA spokesperson Mr. Michael Curie.

The applications from all interested parties are being expected until March 17, 2009 and from that point on, NASA will analyze the organizations believed to properly cover all their requirements and move forward with the project.

The Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour space shuttles are scheduled for retirement from service in 2010 and each one represents a part of history and they are expected to present a significant appeal to the public and attract massive crowds.