The space shuttle Discovery landed at Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Tuesday after a series of nostalgic fly-bys on the back of a NASA Boeing 747, bringing whoops of pride and tears to the eyes of space fans and astronauts alike.
The flight took the shuttle from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center to the Washington area, where it will spend retirement as a museum piece at the Smithsonian Institution’s air and space facility in Chantilly, Virginia, near Dulles.
“It’s a very emotional experience and I’m sorry this nation is out of the space exploration business for a while,” Discovery veteran astronaut Joseph Allen said.
The shuttle took to the sky for its final flight mounted on top of a specially modified Boeing 747.
As it left Florida at first light, it saluted the past and all those who were part of the United States’ shuttle program, flying over launchpad 39A, down the beach and over the space center’s visitor complex before heading north.
Over Washington, it circled the National Mall three times, prompting repeated cheers from onlookers, before heading to Dulles where it will finally rest.
The spacecraft is the oldest of the three remaining orbiters and clocked more than 148 million miles on its missions.
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