Space Shuttle Columbia honor those who lost their lives aboard the shuttle and during the recovery efforts, the Patricia Huffman Smith NASA Museum "Remembering Columbia" was opened in Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas. The museum tells the story of Space Shuttle "Columbia" explorations throughout all its missions, including the final STS-107. Its exhibits also show the efforts of local citizens during the recovery period of the "Columbia" shuttle debris and its crew's remains. An area is dedicated to each STS-107 crew member, and also to the Texas Forest Service helicopter pilot who died in the recovery effort. The museum houses many objects and artifacts
Space Shuttle retirement was added for "Atlantis" for July 2011, extending the program further. Counter-proposals to the shuttle's retirement were considered by Congress and the prime contractor United Space Alliance as late as spring 2010. Hardware developed for the Space Shuttle met various ends with conclusion of the program, including donation, disuse and/or disposal, or reuse. An example of reuse, is that one of the three Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) was converted to a permanent module for the International Space Station. On April 12, 2011, NASA announced a selection of locations for the remaining Shuttle orbiters: <nowiki>*</nowiki> Prior to its move to New