FROM:   
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

CONTACT:    
Rubenstein Communications, Inc.
Jody Fisher – 212-843-8296 - jfisher@rubenstein.com
               
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Luke Sacks – 646-381-5282 – lsacks@intrepidmuseum.org

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New York, NY (March 23, 2011) – The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum should receive one of three soon-to-be retired NASA Space Shuttles, according to a resolution passed by the New York City Council today.

Introduced by Cultural Affairs Committee Chairman James Van Bremer and backed by 23 members of the Council including Speaker Christine Quinn, the resolution encourages NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to send a retiring shuttle to the Intrepid Museum.

“We are grateful to Speaker Christine Quinn and the entire City Council for its support of our bid to bring a NASA Shuttle to New York,” said Susan Marenoff-Zausner, President of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. “The groundswell of support for having a shuttle in New York continues to grow.”

NASA has said it expects to announce on April 12 the names of the three cities that have submitted successful proposals to receive and display a retiring shuttle. 

Intrepid has engaged in a more than two-year campaign to persuade NASA that New York City is the logical choice to achieve its stated mission of exposing a space shuttle to the greatest number of people possible.  According to NYC & Company., New York’s travel and tourism bureau, New York City hosted nearly 50 million visitors in 2010.  Additionally, a space shuttle located at the Intrepid Museum is predicted to generate an additional $106 million in tourism revenues in the first year it opens.

Intrepid has collected more than 150,000 signatures on an online petition urging NASA to retire a shuttle to New York.  It also operates a Twitter and Facebook page dedicated to the effort.

IMAGES OF THE PROPOSED SHUTTLE FACILITY AT INTREPID ARE AVAILABLE. CONTACT JFISHER@RUBENSTEIN.COM or LSACKS@INTREPIDMUSEUM.ORG