After three decades of space service, NASA's oldest and most traveled
shuttle, Discovery, began its new life as a museum relic Tuesday with
one final takeoff.
Discovery departed Florida's Kennedy Space Center at daybreak
Tuesday aboard a modified jumbo jet bound for Washington, where it will
become a Smithsonian exhibit.
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
took off 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.
A similar flyover was planned over the monuments in the nation's capital, later in the morning.
Discovery — the fleet leader with 39 space 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.