Space shuttle Discovery lands at new home near DC
BY BRETT ZONGKER and SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
CHANTILLY, Va. — Space shuttle Discovery has landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, where its wheels will stop for the last time at the Smithsonian.
The world's most traveled spaceship landed Tuesday after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and soaring around the Washington Monument and White House in a salute to the nation's capital. Discovery rode on the back of a 747 jet and took a spin around Washington at an easy-to-spot 1,500 feet before it was grounded for good.
Discovery will be towed Thursday to its installation at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles in northern Virginia.
Discovery flew nearly 149 million miles before retiring last year.
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Borenstein reported from Washington. AP Aerospace writer Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Fla., contributed to this report.
Associated Images:
The Space Shuttle Discovery, mounted on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, flies over the White House in Washington Tuesday. Discovery is en route from Kennedy Space Center to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Udvar/Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
The Space shuttle Discovery, mounted on top of a modified 747, flies over the Atlantic Ocean as it makes a low pass over Cocoa Beach, Fla. for the final time heading to Washington D.C. and the Smithsonian. On Thursday, it will be towed to its permanent installation at the Smithsonian's annex in northern Virginia. (AP Photo/Florida Today,Craig Rubadoux )
The space shuttle Discovery, atop a 747 carrier aircraft, makes a flyover at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., Tuesday. Discovery, the longest-serving orbiter will be placed to its new home, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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