Space Shuttle Discovery Buzzes D.C. Monuments (Pictures)

So Long, Space Coast

Photograph courtesy Glenn Benson, NASA

Piggybacking away from the Kennedy Space Center's 50-story-tall Vehicle Assembly Building Tuesday, Discovery departs Florida's Space Coast one last time.

Named after a series of historic exploration ships, Discovery made its maiden voyage into space on August 30, 1984. Since then it's logged the most flight hours of any space shuttle in NASA's fleet, flying 39 missions and spending 365 days in space.

Over the years the spaceship has earned a reputation among historians and shuttle enthusiasts as the "dependable older sibling" of the shuttle fleet.

"Its legacy is that it is the reliable workhorse," Robert Pearlman, editor of the space history and artifacts website collectSPACE.com, told National Geographic News in 2010.

(Related: "Why Space Shuttle Discovery Is  Machine With Personality.")

Published April 17, 2012

White House Tour

Photograph by Jim Bourg, Reuters

Discovery shoots over the White House Tuesday en route to Dulles International Airport. For security reasons, officials did not list the exact flight path for the space shuttle and its carrier, though NASA and the Smithsonian Institution encouraged spectators to be on the lookout from the National Mall and other key shuttle-spotting points.

(Related blog post: "D.C. Welcomes Space Shuttle Discovery.")

Published April 17, 2012

Discovery Takeoff

Photograph courtesy Glenn Benson, NASA

The Boeing 747 ferrying space shuttle Discovery departs NASA's Kennedy Space Center at about 7 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

Space shuttles were never meant to fly like conventional aircraft, instead being boosted into space with the help of detachable engines and fuel tanks. Returning to Earth, the shuttles performed essentially as giant gliders.

(Video: Replay the very last space shuttle launch.)

Published April 17, 2012

Shuttle Spectators

Photograph by J. Scott Applewhite, AP

Visitors to the U.S. Capitol watch space shuttle Discovery's final voyage as it soars above Washington on Tuesday.

Discovery was no stranger to two Capitol regulars. In 1985 it carried Utah senator Jake Garn into space, a first for a U.S. congressperson. And in 1998 Discovery blasted off with 77-year-old former Ohio Senator John Glenn—the oldest person to fly in space.

(See "Space Shuttle Pictures: Rare Behind-the-Scenes Views.")

Published April 17, 2012

D.C. Sightseeing

Photograph by Kevin Lamarque, Reuters

En route to Chantilly, Virginia's Dulles International Airport, the space shuttle Discovery flies past the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol atop a NASA-modified 747 plane on Tuesday.

The arrival generated such a buzz around the U.S. capital city that the American Automobile Association reminded drivers, "Don't let anyone or anything—even a space shuttle overhead—distract you."

(Related: "After Space Shuttle, Does U.S. Have a Future in Space?")

Published April 17, 2012

Rarin' to Go

Photograph by Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

Wearing a space shuttle costume, four-year-old Alex Mendez, of Sterling, Virginia, awaits the arrival of the space shuttle Discovery at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday.

It will be two days before Discovery arrives, to great fanfare, at its final home, the center's James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. There, Discovery will displace the space shuttle Enterprise, which never made it out of Earth orbit.

(See "Space Shuttle Discovery: Final Flight in Pictures.")

Published April 17, 2012

Final Landing

Photograph by Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images

Space shuttle Discovery makes its final landing on the back of a NASA's Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft at the Dulles International Airport on Tuesday.

The retirement of NASA's space shuttles marks the end of an era—just as the scheduled launch of the first private spacecraft to the International Station later this month marks the beginning of another one.

(See pictures: "Space Shuttle Discovery's Milestone Moments.")

Published April 17, 2012

Future Astronaut?

Photograph by Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

A boy sports an astronaut costume at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center on Tuesday in Chantilly, Virginia. Hundreds of people gathered at the museum to watch the arrival of the space shuttle Discovery, which was tethered to the back of a modified 747 jumbo jet.

"At the Udvar-Hazy Center," museum director John Dailey said in a statement, "Discovery will be seen by millions of people in the coming years, especially children, who will become the next generation of scientists, engineers, researchers and explorers.

Published April 17, 2012

More Pictures: Discovery's Final Space Mission >>

Photograph courtesy NASA

Published April 17, 2012