News & Analysis
Slideshow: Discovery takes victory lap before landing at Smithsonian
George Leopold
4/17/2012 8:34 PM EDT
CHANTILLY, Va. – After logging 39 flights and nearly a year spent orbiting the Earth, space shuttle Discovery ended its epic career with an around-the-Beltway tour of the nation’s capital before landing at its final destination near Dulles International Airport on Tuesday (April 17). The Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum annex will now prepare Discovery for permanent display at the museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center here.
A modified Boeing 747 carrying Discovery piggy-back style from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida buzzed the museum annex twice during its low-altitude farewell tour of the Washington area before touching down at Dulles to the cheers of thousands of onlookers. It was a glorious end for Discovery, the workhorse of NASA’s shuttle fleet, the spacecraft that launched the Hubble Space Telescope, ferried 77-year-old John Glenn back into space in 1998 and twice returned the U.S. to space after a pair of fatal shuttle accidents.
Discovery (designated by NASA as Orbital Vehicle-103) had not been seen in these parts since its final flight in February 2011 when it was briefly visible in the night sky flying in formation with the International Space Station.
The skies over Washington fell silent just after 9:30 a.m. eastern to make way for Discovery’s arrival. Escorted by a NASA T-38 jet, the 747 ferrying Discovery thundered over this location before flying low one last time over the monuments of Washington and its vicinity. After another pass it headed west to fly over several government installations in northern Virginia before making its final approach into Dulles, where all commercial air traffic had been delayed and adjacent roads were closed to allow overflow crowds to view the flyover.
After landing here, the 747 was parked near a specially designed crane structure where Discovery will be lifted off the back of the plane and wheeled into the Udvar-Hazy Center, which houses historic aircraft such as the Enola Gay, the Army Air Corps B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945.
Discovery will replace the prototype shuttle Enterprise in the Smithsonian’s collection here. Enterprise, which was used to test the shuttle design in the late 1970s, did not fly in space.
Enterprise is scheduled to fly later this month to New York City where it will be placed on permanent display aboard the Intrepid Museum on the Hudson River.
A local man said he was here 30 years ago when Enterprise was first placed on display. “I can’t believe so much has happened [in spaceflight] since then,” he said.
Shuttle Atlantis will remain on display at the Kennedy Space Center. The California Science Center in Los Angeles will display the other remaining shuttle, Endeavour.
The slideshow that follows records some of the scenes during the final flight of shuttle Discovery.
The best spot to view the Discovery fly-by was the top of the observation tower at the Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport. (Photo credit: Joseph Asero)
Next: Discovery's victory lap
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george.leopold
4/17/2012 9:59 PM EDT
A great day at Smithsonian/Dulles Airport. More video to come of flyby and landing.
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Sanjib.Acharya
4/17/2012 10:46 PM EDT
I had a chance to make a visit to the Smithsonian air and space museum near the Dulles airport while I was in US for a business trip...it was very nice experience seeing all the exhibits including Concord and the prototype. it was 6-7 years back...many more things might have added to the exhibit since then. I wish to have another chance for the visit so that I don't miss this opportunity of experiencing the real Discovery.
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Duane Benson
4/18/2012 12:54 AM EDT
Great photos. I know the shuttle is old and it's been in the air many, many times, but I am still in awe of it. The sight of Discovery riding piggy back on a 747 is astounding, beautiful and inspiring - even at its retirement.
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junko.yoshida
4/18/2012 6:47 AM EDT
What a great victory lap! Whether you are a Republican or Democrat in the D.C., these photos represent one thing in common for all: national pride. This is awesome!
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prabhakar_deosthali
4/19/2012 3:59 AM EDT
Not just the Republicans and Democrats, but for the whole humanity it is a matter of pride. Discovery Shuttle made the space travel look like routine so much so that we almost forget the technological complexity behind its smooth operation for years
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george.leopold
4/18/2012 9:25 AM EDT
EE Times would like to acknowledge the great photography of Joe Asero. While staking out a location to photograph and videograph shuttle Discovery, we ran into Joe and his impressive amount of photo equipment. Given the difficulties of trying to record an historic event with a video camera in one hand and a digital SLR in the other, we asked the clearly professional Joe if we could publish some of his Discovery photos. He graciously agreed, and readers can appreciate his efforts in our slideshow. Thanks again, Joe.
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KB3001
4/18/2012 10:12 AM EDT
Wonderful!
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george.leopold
4/18/2012 1:19 PM EDT
Good friend of EE Times and fellow space weenie David Carey writes:
I watched the live feed on NASA TV yesterday but there is nothing that takes the place of seeing it in person. We caught just a glimpse of it this weekend @ KSC being readied for the piggyback ride, but it was on terra firma and largely occluded by the treeline. Must say it made me wistful to watch it take off from KSC on its trip to U-H there in DC but that's a good place to go for a retired space craft. I liked that they left the patina of Discovery [in] place and didn't try to shine things up too much for final display; it looks good in its natural "space-suit".
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george.leopold
4/18/2012 4:58 PM EDT
We have just posted video of shuttle Discovery's "buzz" of the Smithsonian annex at Dulles Airport on Tuesday (April 17) followed by its final approach and landing at Dulles. We were standing in the right spot for both.
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Mike.Ciaraldi
4/18/2012 8:01 PM EDT
I remember changing planes at Dulles around 1981. As we taxied to the terminal, the pilot pointed out two vehicles parked at the end of the runway, getting ready to go to the Air & Space Museum. One was a B-25 Mitchell bomber. Next to it, and totally dwarfing the B-25, was the Enterprise.
I finally got to see Enterprise up close when I visited the Udvar-Hazy Center last summer, truly an amazing place!
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george.leopold
4/18/2012 8:16 PM EDT
Mike, your story confirms something I heard yesterday from another visitor who told us he was at Dulles when Enterprise was delivered "30 years ago."
It's also coincidental that you saw a B-25 that day since that was the plane used in Doolittle's raid on Tokyo 70 years ago this week.
http://www.doolittleraider.com/
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Philmac
4/19/2012 7:50 AM EDT
Actually a sad moment realizing that what was once a vibrant American space program, now only exists in a museum. Does anyone really believe that we will be sending another American into space on a U.S. spacecraft anytime in the next 10 years. Consider that when voting in November
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Tim W
4/21/2012 8:36 AM EDT
I concur. The problem is that the space program, like almost all government programs, moved from one of discovery and purpose, to one of minimizing risk, and supporting an ever-expanding bureaucracy.
I believe that the next great advances in space will come from visionaries in the private sector. NASA's VISION should be to take the risks that are not suitable for private enterprise, and stay in the business of basic research.
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RickBunn
4/19/2012 9:26 AM EDT
It's hard to believe that we did not have a Shuttle Version 2.0 on the drawing board, but the issue must also saddly be about return on investment.
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agk
4/20/2012 3:39 AM EDT
A good retirement or send off function. A high tech planning to honour all of them who were responsible for tthe success storeies of Discovery.
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