NASA Administrator Major General Charles Bolden Jr. speaking in a frequently emotional announcement for NASA announced that Seattle was not among those chosen for the home of one of the retired Space Shuttles.

Seattle was competing against the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Space Center and Houston. The Space Shuttle Discovery will go to the Smithsonian, Endeavour will go to California Science Center and Atlantis will go to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Each of the shuttles has one more space mission planned.

The shuttle Enterprise, used for testing, has not been in space and will go to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

The Museum of Flight, actually located within Tukwila's city limits, is scheduled to get the "trainer", the version of the shuttle that astronauts used to train for actual flights. There was conjecture that the trainer commitment may have had some influence on the final decision.

The impact on the Aviation High School will be substantial. "Our number one priority of this umbrella project is trying to get a shuttle here to Seattle," Dunbar told the West Seattle Herald the day after the Discovery launch. "The number two priority is working to raise funds with Aviation High School (on the museum campus) promoting 'STEM', science, technology, engineering and math. It's an outstanding school, has had three graduating classes, and ought to be the model school.