Space shuttle Discovery makes final flight
APR 17, 2012
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025986
NBC : This morning, as part of NASA’s retirement of the space shuttle program, Discovery made its final voyage. Flying aboard a modified Boeing 747, the shuttle took off shortly before 7:00am from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It made several laps over the Washington, DC, area on its way to its final resting place at the Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, Virginia. To view the historic event, crowds gathered at such local DC landmarks as the National Mall, Reagan National Airport, National Harbor, and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland (where this photo was taken). Discovery, which made its maiden flight on 30 August 1984, flew 39 successful missions in its 27 years of service. Among its many successes, Discovery flew the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit in 1990.
© 2012 American Institute of Physics
