NASA in December 2008 first offered the Shuttles for sale, hoping to find buyers among museums, schools and elsewhere.  In total, NASA reportedly was offering two of its current fleet of three shuttles for sale for $42M USD a piece (as well as potentially offering the Enterprise, a shuttle prototype).

Over its history NASA has built five operational shuttles.  The first shuttle, OV-102 Columbia flew 27 times before tragically disintegrating (killing all crew aboard) upon reentry in 2003.  NASA also lost its second Shuttle, OV-099 Challenger to a tragic disaster back in 1986.  Currently, there are three Shuttles that have survived their service -- OV-103 Discovery, OV-104 Atlantis, and OV-105 Endeavour, which last flew in September, November, and July of 2009, respectively.

The Discovery has already been promised to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but the remaining shuttles have gone unsold (Now NASA is reportedly slashing the prices on the shuttles for lack of interested buyers, offering them at the clearance rate of $28.8M USD. 

NASA is confident the price cut will motivate potential buyers to act.  States agency spokesperson Mike Curie, "We’re confident that we’ll get other takers."

NASA also promises to deliver the Shuttles sooner -- late 2011, rather than the previously promised 2012.  Bids must be submitted by February 19.

Amazingly, NASA is giving away the Shuttle engines for free, along with other parts.  It received virtually no interest from buyers, according to agency spokespeople, so it is now offering them at no cost, assuming someone can shoulder the burden of hauling them away.

NASA's situation is similar to that of the former Soviet space program, which sold its own shuttle prototype, Buran, to a Moscow fair after initially offering it online for $3M USD.

In completely unrelated news, NASA is investigating a small amount of cocaine found in the processing hangar for a space shuttle at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  The agency has drug tested employees who work in the restricted building and is trying to figure out what happened. 

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana released a statement on the incident, stating,  "This is a rare and isolated incident, and I'm disappointed that it happened, but it should not detract from the outstanding work that is being done by a dedicated team on a daily basis.  There were about 200 NASA and contractor personnel who were around the facility at the time the drug was found.  There is no reason whatsoever to believe this incident will have any impact on Discovery's upcoming launch."

According to NASA, someone lost a bag of the illegal substance next to the hangar's restroom.