By Josh Williams
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Spacemen, sci-fi fans and local politicians took a voyage on the shuttle train between Grand Central Terminal and Times Square Thursday in hopes of attracting a real space shuttle to the Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum.
The Intrepid is in a nationwide competition to land one of the shuttles after they're retired at the end of the year.
"About 400,00 new visitors will come to visit the Intrepid which will create about $16 million in economic development revenue," said Bill White, president of the museum.
Gov. David Paterson and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer joined an assortment of people dressed in space suits and in "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" costumes who were carrying bags of signed petitions to be beamed over to NASA.
"I thought it would be helpful for my son to be involved with bringing the space shuttle to New York," said Kevin Coyne, who added he worked as a volunteer on the Intrepid 15 years ago. "I think it would be a great thing for him to go see the space shuttle in a few years sitting over at Pier 46."
The Intrepid is the only applicant to actually have a connection to the space program. It was once used in recovery missions space craft that landed in the ocean.
"This is the media capitol of the world, who can give this shuttle the best home with the most amount of exposure," said White. "We saw Trekkies here, we saw 'Star Wars' folks here, we saw people in spacesuits. It brings out the magical nature of space exploration."
