Happy Landings, Discovery

Space shuttle Discovery, on its way to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., passes the moon one last time as it flies low over Edgewater Tuesday morning. Photo by Tim Wilson.

An orbiter took the scenic route Tuesday morning, as space shuttle Discovery made her way to Washington Dulles International Airport. Discovery will be installed at the National Air & Space Museum on Thursday. I thought this snippet of the above article put it well:

It was a sad day out at the Kennedy Space Center for those of us who’ve been around the shuttle program for a while. Sure, we know the ships stopped flying last year, but watching preparations for Discovery’s final flight — in the horizontal, not vertical orientation — was sobering.

“I almost feel like I’m at a funeral and there’s the hearse,” said one of my long-time space reporter pals, Bill Harwood, with CBS.

Space shuttle Discovery mounted atop a 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, flies by the Washington Monument during a flyover of the nation's capital on its final trip (Getty Images)

NASM and NASA promoted this fly-by event heavily, and Discovery flew over many DC landmarks before settling down at Dulles. Viewers were encouraged to “spot the shuttle” and post their images online. Here is a large collection of photos, both of the fly-by and of the crowds. The imagery is bittersweet, for me — I plan to visit Discovery in the future, but I think I’m glad I’m not there now. It does, indeed, feel like a funeral… or taxidermy.

Orbiter Discovery is carried on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft up and down the beaches of Brevard County as a farewell on her way to Washington D.C. and her new home at the National Air & Space Museum. Photo by Jen Scheer.