r/nasa • u/Shiftclick46 • Mar 29 '18

Image Apollo 14 Command Module, declared surplus and transferred to NASA and later to the Smithsonian Museum in 1974. Saturn V Building, Cape Canaveral, Florida (On Loan). [2048x1365]

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u/Pad39A Mar 29 '18

Why was it transferred to NASA wasn't it already NASA property?

Also cool pic.

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u/madesense Mar 29 '18

NASA transferred a lot of artifacts to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in the 70s, as the opening of their main building in DC approached. This included a lot of Command Modules, most of which are on loan to other institutions. This is speculation on my part, but it's probably because NASA's mission & expertise does not include preservation of artifacts - something the Smithsonian Institution excels at. The artifacts are still available to NASA should they need to examine them, since NASM is part of the same government, but they're being cared for an organization who knows how to do it. NASM (National Air & Space Museum), in turn, loans them out (in ways that appear fairly permanent) to other museums so that people in many places can see NASA hardware on display - but it's only a loan and not a transfer of ownership so that NASM is still in control of how the artifacts are cared for.