Gay Senator Wants Space Shuttle for NYC

With the marriage equality bill grounded indefinitely since its defeat in the New York state senate in December, sponsor Tom Duane is exploring a new, final, frontier.

Duane, the senate's only openly gay member, wants to bring one of NASA's three retiring space shuttles to his district on the West Side of Manhattan, according to a news release from his office.

"On Thursday, by a unanimous vote, the state senate approved a legislative resolution spearheaded by State Senator Thomas K. Duane that enthusiastically endorses the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum's application to permanently display one of NASA's three retiring Space Shuttles on Manhattan's West Side. The Intrepid Museum is competing for the privilege with more than twenty other institutions across the United States," said the release.

The three ships in the Space Shuttle program -- Discovery, Endeavor, and Atlantis -- will be retired in early 2011. This July, NASA will announce the results of a nationwide competition to find homes for each of the three shuttles.

According to Duane in the news release, nearly one million people visit the Intrepid Museum each year and thousands more can be expected if the institution wins a space shuttle to display.