As much as I love space history and the importance of preserving that which
served to make our Space Age possible, I am wondering if the money might be
better served elsewhere, either with spacecraft that could be sent into space
or for systems that would support such vessels and missions.

While I am glad in one sense that they are finally preserving the remaining
Saturn 5s, I would have been much happier if they had been used to support
Apollos 18 through 20, to say nothing of them building more to partake in
setting up a lunar base or ten. Modified Saturn 5s could even have taken
small manned crews to Venus and Mars.

NASA should have taken the second Skylab and modified it as a lunar orbital
station, rather than standing on one end in the NASM and having lots of
tourists walk through a mere section of its innards every day. I doubt if they
used a replica in the Smithsonian instead of the real deal it would have made
a difference to most visitors.