A space shuttle could be touching down — metaphorically — in St. Cloud.
Gov. Tim Walz last week said a donor had inquired about placing a space shuttle in central Minnesota. Walz told MPR News’ Politics Friday about the offer but gave few details about the project.
“Someone wants to give us a space shuttle — the space shuttle, a real space shuttle — to move to Minnesota,” he said.
State Sen. Aric Putnam, DFL-St. Cloud, on social media, said the shuttle could be showcased next to a new children’s museum in downtown St. Cloud. The proposed site is currently a parking lot.
In an interview with MPR News, Putnam said Felicity-John Pederson, a graduate of St. Cloud’s Apollo High School and founder of a technology company called LVX System, owns the shuttle and is interested in bringing it to St. Cloud.
The full-scale mockup of a shuttle orbiter, known as Inspiration, is currently housed near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but needs to be moved.
“It was primarily for training,” Putnam said. “It’s the real thing. The toilets even flush. It just never went to space.”
Pederson said the shuttle was at the end of its life cycle and scheduled to be destroyed when his company acquired it for research it was doing with NASA. NASA wanted the shuttle donated for education, he said, possibly to St. Cloud, near the Mall of America in Bloomington or another location.
“The most likely seems to be St. Cloud, but that decision is not made,” Pederson said.
Cassie Miles, executive director of the Great River Children’s Museum, said Pederson is a strong supporter of the museum and efforts to boost the economy and quality of life in St. Cloud.
“We both believe that growth is ripe right now. We’re ready to make some big changes,” she said. “Why not have the effort to bring it here?”
But the logistics of moving a space shuttle are daunting. It would need to be disassembled, transported by truck or barge and reassembled using cranes, Miles said. Finding partners willing to help will be key, she said.
Putnam said he’s had conversations with people in several industries who might be able to help make it happen, including a local trucking company.
Miles said she’s had some preliminary conversations with St. Cloud city officials about the idea. But for the most part, she and others have intentionally kept quiet about the prospect, knowing it’s likely to be met with incredulity.
“It’s really hard to bring up something as grand as an orbiter being parked in St. Cloud, Minnesota, without people going, ‘What?’” she said. “It’s hard to wrap your head around.”
Miles and Putnam were both surprised that Gov. Walz mentioned the shuttle during Friday’s interview, but Putnam said he hopes the attention helps the effort.
“Maybe this is something that helps us make it real,” he said.
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