For Sale: Space Shuttle Launch Pad, Slightly Used

If you've been looking for a place to park your spaceship, then NASA has got a deal for you. With the space shuttle program on ice, Uncle Sam is hoping to sell or lease its Kennedy Space Center facilities, including its 15,000-foot landing strip, its launchpad, its rocket assembly building, and even its parachute-packing plant, the Orlando Sentinel reports. And it's looking to sell fast; federal money to maintain those facilities runs out at the end of this year.

"The facilities out here can't be in an abandoned state for long before they become unusable," says one KSC official. "So we're in a big push over the next few months." NASA is hoping to sell or rent to companies pursuing space-related projects, and it believes there's plenty of commercial demand. Facilities like the parachute plant "have real value to the next generation of space activity," says Florida's public-private space agency. NASA won't divulge how much it's asking, saying only that the market will set prices. (More NASA stories.)