Houston Still Simmers over Shuttle Snub

A closer look at Houston’s shuttle snub, KTRK
“He awarded the shuttles using a point system that gave no points for connection to space despite its inclusion in the law. But gave 20 percent of all points to international access — meaning how many international tourists could see the shuttle. That’s nowhere in the law. “He essentially said, ‘I care more about foreign tourists than I do about the community who built the shuttle,'” said Rep. Olsen. Even though we specifically asked why, NASA didn’t answer. And on the one chance we had to ask Bolden about it, he pushed us back to Space Center Houston. “Go back to the folks at home and ask them what they got from their debrief,” said Bolden. They told us they didn’t get answers either. In fact, Space Center Houston was never asked how many international visitors they get and two of the winning sites — New York and California — don’t even record where visitors are from.”
NASA OIG Review of NASA’s Selection of Display Locations for the Space Shuttle Orbiters, earlier post