By Ben Fractenberg
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN WEST — The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum is hoping to bring a space shuttle in for a Manhattan landing.
Museum officials and representatives including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand have taken the first of three steps toward getting a decommissioned shuttle according to the New York Times. NASA is planning to give away three of the shuttles after the shuttle program ends next year.
"If you think of the economic, cultural and educational potential of the shuttle coming to New York, there's no other place but New York," Intrepid President Bill White told the Daily News. "These are precious, historical icons [and] they should go somewhere where the most people will see them."
The museum, which is located at Pier 86 on W. 46th Street, is trying to gather 100,000 supporting signatures by Memorial Day to send to President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden, who is chairman of NASA’s board.
Twenty-five other organizations are vying for a shuttle, according to the News. The list includes the Museum of Flight in Seattle, the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Ohio and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
NASA said they expect to make a decision within the next few months.
