Godspeed Discovery! - On April 17, 2012 space shuttle Discovery departs Kennedy Space Center for the last time. In celebration of the fly-out, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will be hosting four days worth of activities. Guests will have the opportunity to view Discovery as it is placed on top of the SCA- a Boeing 747, see the astronaut crews from Discovery's inaugural and final missions (STS 41-D and STS-133) and a limited number of guests will even have the opportunity to witness the departure of Discovery from the Shuttle Landing Facility from April 14-17.
Discovery is bound for its new destination at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. In celebration of the fly-out, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will be hosting four days worth of activities for guests. Event passes are on sale now at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center website.
-Last Discovery Launch, NASA image-
On April 17, 2012, space shuttle Discovery will depart the Kennedy Space Center for the last time, on top of a Boeing 747. The orbiter on top of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, will fly to its new destination at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. The space shuttle Discovery is expected to fly low over Dulles International Airport at about 10 a.m. At 11:00 a.m. when the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft crew step out, they will be greeted by Smithsonian and NASA officials.
The Space Shuttle Discovery hitched a ride on NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the flight from the Dryden Flight Research Center in California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 19, 2005. -NASA image
The Space Shuttle Discovery hitched a ride on NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the flight from the Dryden Flight Research Center in California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 19, 2005. Discovery, the longest-serving and most flown of all the shuttles, will be welcomed into the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum collection in similar fashion on April 19, 2012 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, where it will go on permanent display.
Space Shuttle Discovery will be officially received by the Smithsonian and placed on permanent display, replacing the shuttle Enterprise in the Center, during a ceremony on Thursday, April 19 at 11:00 a.m. The Discovery Welcome Ceremony features a Document signing, the National Anthem sung by mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, Music by the U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and Marine Corps Color Guard, Participants to include 14 of Discovery's 31 living commanders, Speakers will be: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough, National Air and Space Museum Director J.R. "Jack" Dailey, Former Sen. John Glenn and Chair of Smithsonian Board of Regents France Córdova.
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Kennedy Space Center Tickets