Cities, space centers, museums fight for retired shuttle

States bid for space shuttle orbiterSTORY HIGHLIGHTSSeveral sites are vying to be the final homes of the retiring space shuttlesThe shuttles Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis carry historic and economic valueNASA administrator Charlie Bolden will announce Tuesday where the shuttles will goApril 12 marks the date of the first human space flight and, 20 years later, the first shuttle flight Kennedy Space Center, Florida (CNN) -- Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space -- the date was April 12, 1961. Twenty years later on April 12, astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen got on board the space shuttle Columbia, a craft that looked more like a plane that a rocket ship. It launched an entirely new era in space flight.

Now, on the anniversary of those two historic events, NASA is scheduled to announce where the retiring orbiters Discovery, Endeavour and Atlantis will call home.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden will make the announcement Tuesday during a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center commemorating that first flight of Columbia on April 12, 1981. NASA officials say the orbiter Atlantis, being readied for the final shuttle flight this summer, will be the backdrop for the announcement. Hundreds of center workers are expected to attend -- many of them will likely lose their jobs when the shuttle program ends.

Because the announcement is being made at Kennedy, the speculation is that the visitor center here will be awarded one of the shuttles. It is one of more than 20 locations around the country with collective fingers crossed.

The drama mirrors the bidding to host an Olympic games. In Texas, home of the Johnson Space Center, members of that state's delegation publicly lobbied for a shuttle. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, said during a news conference, "No city in the world deserves an orbiter more than Houston, Texas."

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