Space Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Takeoff (VIDEO)

Space shuttle Discovery atop a 747 carrier jet departs the Kennedy Space Center, Tuesday, April 17, 2012, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Discovery is being transported to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

WASHINGTON -- The space shuttle Discovery soared over the Washington Monument, the White House and the Capitol in a high-flying salute to the nation's capital Tuesday.

The world's most traveled spaceship, hitching a ride on top a Boeing 747 jet, took a couple of leisurely spins at an easy-to-spot 1,500 feet around Washington after a flight from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Thousands packed the National Mall to watch the pair swoop by.

"Look at that – that thing is mammoth," said Terri Jacobsen of Bethesda, Md. She brought her 12-year-old home-schooled son to the mall to watch the flyover

The shuttle-jet combo was set to land at Dulles International Airport. On Thursday, it will be towed to its permanent installation at the Smithsonian's annex in northern Virginia.

Discovery departed Florida's Kennedy Space Center at daybreak. Nearly 2,000 people – former shuttle workers, VIPs, tourists and journalists – gathered along the old shuttle landing strip to see Discovery off. A cheer went up as the plane taxied down the runway and soared into a clear sky.

     The plane and shuttle headed south and made one last flight over the beaches of Cape Canaveral – thousands jammed the shore for a glimpse of Discovery – then returned to the space center in a final salute. Cheers erupted once more as the pair came in low over the runway it had left 20 minutes earlier and finally turned toward the north.

     Discovery – the fleet leader with 39 orbital missions – is the first of the three retired space shuttles to head to a museum. It will go on display at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, taking the place of the shuttle prototype Enterprise. The Enterprise will go to New York City.

     Endeavour will head to Los Angeles this fall. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy.

     NASA ended the shuttle program last summer after a 30-year run to focus on destinations beyond low-Earth orbit. Private U.S. companies hope to pick up the slack, beginning with space station cargo and then, hopefully, astronauts. The first commercial cargo run, by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is set to take place in just another few weeks.

     For at least the next three to five years – until commercial passenger craft are available in the United States – NASA astronauts will have to hitch multimillion-dollar rides on Russian Soyuz capsules to get to the International Space Station.

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Comments

[MarkTwo]

09:12 AM on 04/21/2012

And Russia finally wins the Space Race.......

[adika3z]

04:05 AM on 04/20/2012

oh yeaaa,
i love american is the best air spaceplane SPACE SHUTTLE,
american space shuttle is so pretty design,
i dont like ussr russian cheap dirty buran shuttle,
ussr russia is always cheat copy steal from american space shuttle,
turn down on ussr russia buran / MIR

[Rich Cash]

10:11 PM on 04/19/2012

I've seen 5 shuttle launches which included the entire fleet except for Challenger. My first was Discovery. That mission was the first for Rick Husband who later commanded Colubia's final ill-fated mission.

[Mark Zalewski]

10:07 PM on 04/19/2012

If NASA can ignore the sexual orientation of these two crafts then why can't we?

[Sickofrepukes]

07:29 PM on 04/19/2012

And shortly after that the shuttles last approximate 1000 workers waited in line at the Unemployment office...way to go USA....our government proved it is just a big sellout...if you doubt that...tell your point to the small business owners of Titusville....

[Rich Cash]

10:12 PM on 04/19/2012

Amen! Fanned and faved!

[Chi Epsilon]

10:29 AM on 04/19/2012

Did NASA have to pay extra for carry-on-top luggage?

[brrite]

07:23 PM on 04/19/2012

Nah, they put a bunch of politicians in the cockpit and had them talk . . . all the hot air lightened the load considerably.

[scififirefly]

10:08 AM on 04/19/2012

These reusable marvels did so much for space flight and will leave their mark on history. Let's hope that there is still a bright future for human space flight and the exploration of, and curiosity about, space. As scientists from Sagan, to Hawking, to Neil DeGrasse Tyson remind us, the only way humanity has a future is if we continue to explore beyond our own world while simultaneously exploring and nurturing it.

[eric14]

07:50 AM on 04/19/2012

A lot of brave folk flew in these great amazing beasts.

[J Owen Williams]

08:44 PM on 04/18/2012

The space shuttle gets lucky with the 747.

[adika3z]

04:08 AM on 04/20/2012

yes american space shuttle on the american 747 airplane,
i love it,
america is better than ussr russia cheap buran shuttle on the an-225 airplane

[Midnight Cry]

08:39 PM on 04/18/2012

John F. Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon, while O challenges us to march on Sanford, Fl.

[dan101t]

01:09 PM on 04/18/2012

We all know the shuttle program was shut down under Bush. But tell me what obama has done for the space program? I guess as long as they go with his global warming and making the muslims feel good they will get funding?

[ThinkCreeps]

03:52 PM on 04/18/2012

NASA budget is set by the Luddite in the House, and they want their pork in the SLS.
Tough luck science and education.

[Quasi Libertarian]

05:47 PM on 04/18/2012

Yes....Bush did shut down the shuttle, he had it's replacement set called the Constellation which would allow launch vehicles to take us to the moon and beyond.........but Obama cancelled it.

[showme54]

10:41 PM on 04/18/2012

The problem was bush did not provide for the funding of Constellation so by the time Obama was sworn in as President the Program was beyond over budget and behind schedule. So under recommendations by a panel of experts, Constellation was cancelled. http://www.spaceksc.blogspot.com/2010/11/after-bush-cancelled-space-shuttle.html

[anne1stoftwo]

09:08 AM on 04/18/2012

Some of these pictures are incredible. Way to go out in style. Wish I had gone outside but was busy and couldn't get out of the hosital. I work four miles from the mall and would have seen it great. Sighhh

[bd64kcmo]

11:33 PM on 04/17/2012

Endeavour will head to Los Angeles this fall? Why not Houston or Huntsville? LA has JPL. These two were heavily involved with the manned space program for the last half century!

[ThinkCreeps]

03:54 PM on 04/18/2012

The shuttles were designed and built in southern California.

If the solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank had been too, there might well be fourteen fewer astronauts commemorated at Arlington.

[bd64kcmo]

08:29 PM on 04/18/2012

Exactly what do ou mean by that>? Are you certain? Aircraft designed and built in SOCAL have crashed. The DC-10 for example had a much worse safety record than the L-1011. Or are we throwing a nasty at Huntsville? I love California and lived there, but it is not the center of the universe, just because Hollywood says so.

[BluePhantom2]

10:23 PM on 04/17/2012

A truly sad day for America!

[ae12wrangell]

01:30 PM on 04/18/2012

Sad? Please tell us why this is a sad day

[fds]

04:47 PM on 04/18/2012

Because perhaps memories of the poster invoke sadness. He or she may have powerful memories of the Shuttle in its prime.

Can you imagine that?

[BluePhantom2]

06:28 PM on 04/18/2012

The United States of America now depends on another country (Russia) to deliver people to the space station. And we have ended one program and have no replacement as POTUS cancelled it. Isn't that sad?

[hterlij]

08:59 PM on 04/17/2012

We can observe the "much older" 747 is still on the road ... I wonder if to abandon the Saturn V technology was a cost effective decision. The shuttle is only partially re-usable as experience showed , its thermal shield a serious problem...The space shuttle seemed to be more modern , but was it really ?? or just a heavy glider , full of electronics ? .

[ThinkCreeps]

03:55 PM on 04/18/2012

Saturn V or Shuttle? Both grossly overpriced, and not very well suited to launching useful things. Saturn V was too big. Shuttle was too dangerous.

[adika3z]

04:10 AM on 04/20/2012

why worry about overprice currency,
dont worry about it currency,
let both saturn V and space shuttle can be flying outer space