$6M question: Should Columbus State’s space shuttle model be horizontal or vertical?

It’s a $6 million question.

It’s the difference in cost between two versions of a Columbus State University project to expand the Coca-Cola Space Science Center.

▪  $2.5 million to horizontally display the quarter-scale model space shuttle NASA donated to the CCSSC. That would expand the facility’s eastern side, toward Front Avenue, and maintain the two-story roofline.

▪  $8.5 million to vertically display the unique artifact. That would expand the facility’s southern side, toward the vacant patch of grass, and require a five-story structure.

The $2.5 million version is part of CSU’s $106.15 million comprehensive capital campaign, which has raised around $80 million one year into the public phase. The $8.5 million version would be a viable possibility only if the extra money could be collected, CSU officials say.

Both versions would enclose in glass the approximately 25,000-pound shuttle model, valued at $9.3 million, in full stack – the orbiter, external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters connected together – to allow what CCSSC executive director Shawn Cruzen called “a national treasure” to be seen from the street. But the visual impacts differ tremendously between a horizontal, two-story display and a vertical, five-story display.

So is it worthwhile to pursue the extra money?

Significance

First, it’s important to understand exactly what CSU received from NASA and its significance.

John Zipay, deputy chief of the structures branch at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, explained the purpose of the quarter-scale model for the space shuttle, the vehicle that launched as a reusable rocket, flew as a plane in space and landed as a glider back on Earth during 135 missions in 30 years, 1981-2011.

“The real space shuttle is so huge, in order to understand how it reacts to vibration, it was necessary to reduce the scale of the shuttle because there were things we simply couldn’t test at full scale,” Zipay told the L-E in a phone interview. “At quarter scale, we couldn’t get the rivets any smaller. This allowed us to shake it and apply loads at the attach points. … Remember, this was the 1970s, so we didn’t have sophisticated computer programs that can do this analysis today.”

Valerie Neal, curator and chairwoman of the space history department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email, “This model is also currently the only high-fidelity representation of the complete space shuttle “stack” (orbiter, external tank, solid rocket boosters). The California Science Center intends to display Endeavour vertically with the last external tank and two mockup boosters in a few years, if they succeed in raising many millions of dollars for a new building that will accommodate a vertical stack. In the meantime, Endeavour is displayed horizontally and is a star attraction.”

Zipay, who helped deliver the quarter-scale model’s external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters to Georgia, put the donation’s location in perspective.

“It’s an important artifact that’s not in a big city,” he said. “It’s in a place that doesn’t necessarily have a strong connection to the space program, so it’s in a place where folks who may not be exposed to this normally can now see it.”

Jim Hull, the exhibits and artifacts manager in the communications office at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., explained why NASA selected CSU out of the “few responses” during the winter of 2014, when the space agency solicited proposals to permanently display the quarter-scale shuttle model.

“They had a good proposal, were qualified recipients and planned to display for both higher education and to the American public,” Hull told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email.

Calgary International Airport paid for the quarter-scale orbiter to be trucked to a hangar at an airport in Warm Springs, Ga., after having it on display as a long-term loan from NASA for 14 years. CSU was responsible for trucking the quarter-scale external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters from Houston to the hangar. The pieces now are stored in a hangar at the Columbus Airport.

CSU has spent about $65,000 on transporting and storing the pieces, Cruzen said, coming from the CCSSC’s $800,000 operating budget and its $1 million endowment. “This is not state money,” he emphasized.

CSU’s position

Neal and retired NASA engineer Dennis Jenkins came to Columbus in November 2014 to speak to CCSSC staff, CSU administrators and university supporters about the quarter-scale shuttle model.

“They highly recommended that this artifact be put in a vertical configuration,” Cruzen said in an interview with the L-E.

Cruzen wondered to himself, “Imagine the iconic nature of having a five-story, full-stack space shuttle engineering prototype gleaming (under a glass enclosure) in the sun on Front Avenue. This would be a vision for not just science education but also for tourism to the city of Columbus. It would have regional draw. I don’t just mean Georgia, but I mean a Southeast regional draw.”

Tom Hackett, CSU’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, said in a phone interview with the L-E that the CCSSC’s expansion was included as part of the university’s comprehensive campaign before discussions began about possibly displaying the space shuttle model vertically instead of horizontally.

Cruzen must advocate what’s best for his facility while also being a cooperative team player within the university. That’s why the question in which position he wants the space shuttle to be displayed puts him in a tough position.

Asked whether he favors a vertical configuration, Cruzen said in follow-up email to the L-E, “Make no mistake, this is what everyone thinks would be best ultimately for the artifact. That includes us! However, we also have to be pragmatic and focus on what is feasible. It's far better to get that artifact home and enclosed in a permanent location rather than sitting in an airplane hangar even if this means going horizontal for some time.”

It all depends on the amount of fundraising the project attracts, Hackett said.

“It could be either of the two forms,” Hackett said. “If we get enough love for it, we’d love to essentially expand the mission.”

Expert opinions

NASA’s official response is to support CSU’s current choice to display the model horizontally.

“The original proposal submitted to NASA showed the model displayed in a horizontal position,” Hull said. “We had no issues with this presentation and it would not seem cost efficient to spend another $6 million for a vertical display.”

The model was tested in the vertical position, according to a research paper published in 1980 by D.H. Emero of the Rockwell International Space Systems Group, which performed the tests in Downey, Calif.

“All vertical dynamic tests were performed within a vertical test fixture assembled inside a high-bay facility,” Emero wrote.

The only time the model was tested in a horizontal position, Zipay said, the orbiter was by itself. When testing was done on the full stack, with the orbiter connected to the external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters, it was done in a vertical position, he said.

Nobody knows space shuttles better than Jenkins, the retired engineer who worked on them during his entire 30-year NASA career. Now, he directs the California Science Center’s project that plans to display space shuttle Endeavour in launch configuration, meaning vertically, by 2018.

This week, he was in New Orleans, where the external fuel tank was being put on a barge to be shipped to Los Angeles for the Endeavour display. So Columbus and LA will be the only cities to have full-stack space shuttle artifacts. In a voicemail, he shared his viewpoint about the proper way to present them.

“My personal opinion is it would be best to display vertically,” Jenkins said. “However, if the choice is between not displaying it and displaying it horizontally, I would definitely choose horizontally, understanding that fundraising is a difficult task and it’s often hard to come up with sufficient funds. … I’m fully supportive of displaying it horizontally if that’s the best they can do.”

Zipay said a vertical display would be “damn impressive. … You want to have the wow factor to draw people in. It could give you that sense of scale, that sense of grandeur.”

But he favors a horizontal display because “it brings folks closer to the shuttle. It allows you to walk its length.”

Robert Pearlman, editor and founder of the website CollectSpace.com, a publication about space history and news based in Houston told the L-E in an email, “It is not uncommon for rockets that once stood vertical to be displayed in the horizontal, as can be seen with the three remaining Saturn V rockets, the Titan IV rocket now being assembled for exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio and, at least currently, all three space-flown shuttle orbiters.”

Pearlman also worded the case for a vertical display.

“A vertical display would also present the sub-scale shuttle stack in the same configuration as the full-size version launched,” he said. “There are children turning five this year who were born after the last space shuttle launched. Any chance to present the shuttle as it flew for their and future generations’ benefit is worth the investment, if possible.”

Like any museum, the CCSSC must balance what it wants to do with what it can afford to do, Neal said.

“Because the quarter-scale model includes the orbiter, external tank and solid rocket boosters, which were normally viewed in vertical configuration on the launch pad, that is probably the ideal way to depict the model,” Neal said. “But if cost is prohibitive, it is far better to display the total model horizontally than not at all or than separating it into the pieces. Horizontal display may be a fair and possibly necessary compromise. The space shuttle will be impressive to visitors and students alike in either position; it will still be the star of the show at CCSSC and it will still serve CSU’s interest in it as a resource for engineering education.”

Regardless of the configuration, Neal noted, “If the California project and the CCSSC project are completed, there will be a full-size shuttle stack on the west coast and a ¼-size shuttle stack on the east coast, and both will be a testament to that remarkable spaceplane system. ”

The good news is that CSU has plenty of time to decide on a final version of this project. NASA hasn’t given the university a deadline to permanently display the shuttle model, so it doesn’t risk losing the rights to it, Hull said.

Community opinion

Peter Bowden, president and CEO of the Columbus Convention & Visitors Bureau, shared the story of tourists asking him earlier this month for directions to the CCSSC.

They were 1½ blocks away from their desired destination. If the space shuttle model were displayed in a five-story glass enclosure, he said, such a beacon already would have informed those tourists.

“Regardless of how it’s built, this will be an extraordinary addition and the CVB will have a different story to tell,” Bowden said. “If money is not an object – and when Columbus sets a goal, it always creates a public-private partnership that makes it work – the CVB certainly would want to be part of that conversation from a marketing standpoint.”

Asked whether the vertical configuration would be worth the extra $6 million in cost, Bowden offered the following statistics: Last fiscal year, Columbus attracted 1.9 million visitors, who spent $340 million. That’s an average of $179 per person per day. So it would take 92 years to match the $6 million.

But some expenses can’t be justified by dollars alone.

“If they see this thing set up as it would be on the launch pad, it tells a better story,” Bowden said. “… The more authentic it could be, is the best way for the visitor to experience.”

Because the CCSSC is located in the Columbus Historic District and in Uptown Columbus, the Board of Historic and Architectural Review and the city’s Façade Board must approve its expansion plan, said Rick Jones, the Columbus Consolidated Government planning director.

Jones also noted the CCSSC property is zoned as historic, which restricts any nonresidential building to 40 feet in height. That wouldn’t be tall enough for a five-story structure to display the space shuttle model vertically. If the CSU Foundation, a private entity, applies for the expansion project, it could request the property to be rezoned, Jones said. If the University System of Georgia, a state agency, applies for the expansion project, the height restriction could be waived.

Either way, Jones said, “I don’t think it’s a deal killer.”

Hackett said, “It initially would be a foundation project. The foundation would develop it and the USG would take it on.”

Elizabeth Barker, executive director of the Historic Columbus Foundation, declined to express her preference for the shuttle model’s display without seeing the designs.

“There’s going to be a lot of factors in that,” she said.

Barker, however, added, “CSU’s presence with the space science center has been a wonderful addition to the district, so I’m sure everybody looks forward to figuring out how we can all work together on this.”

Uptown CEO Richard Bishop also was cautious about weighing in on either side of the debate, but he did say, “When you have something that’s the only one in the world, that’s pretty intriguing to me. It’s like having the world’s longest urban whitewater course that we have here. Those things are bringing people from outside this area when they’re looking for something to do that’s very unique.”

Epilogue

Cruzen recalled the advice he once heard from Bill Turner, the retired W.C. Bradley Company chairman who has benefited Columbus in numerous philanthropic ways through the Bradley-Turner Foundation: “Nobody gets excited about a small idea.”

“That quote is still rattling around the back of my head,” Cruzen said. “I think there’s wisdom behind it.”

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 12:46 PM with the headline "$6M question: Should Columbus State’s space shuttle model be horizontal or vertical?."