The NASA Space Shuttle Discovery flew over Washington landmarks, including the Capitol, on Wednesday on its way to Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.
NASA is retiring the shuttle, and three others from its recently ended shuttle program, to the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles.
Discovery will be the first space shuttle to arrive at its new home, which was announced by NASA officials last year.
Other destinations for shuttles include New York City, which will receive the Space Shuttle Enterprise that had been housed temporarily at Dulles; Los Angeles, which will get the Space Shuttle Endeavor; and the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Fla., which will house the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
When the space shuttle retirement destinations were first announced last year, officials in Houston expressed dismay at not being chosen as a destination. Houston is home to NASA's Johnson Space Center and its mission control.
Lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday celebrated the sight of Discovery, even as some decried the end of the NASA shuttle program.
For more on the Space Shuttle Discovery route to retirement, click here.
