See the video below
It was a rather different take off for space the shuttle Discovery on Tuesday. Instead of being strapped to a rocket for blast off, the shuttle was placed atop a Boeing 747.
The Space Shuttle Discovery mounted on top the plane took off from Florida today in route to Washington. Flying at a little over 1,500 feet the spectacle could be seen at many locations. The U.S. government did not release the flight information but did give several locations where onlookers could see space shuttle Discovery’s final flight.
District of Columbia
●The Mall, including Memorial Bridge, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the east end.
●Hains Point at East Potomac Park, south of Jefferson Memorial and 14th Street Bridge.
●Southwest Waterfront Park.
Virginia
●Long Bridge Park, 475 Long Bridge Dr., Arlington.
●Old Town Alexandria waterfront.
●Gravelly Point, just off George Washington Parkway, near National Airport.
Maryland
●National Harbor, just off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Prince George’s County.
Space shuttle Discovery is the oldest surviving space shuttle and underwent 39 successful trips into space. It will be retired just outside of the nation’s capital at the Smithsonian institution’s facility at the Dulles International Airport.
The transfer of space shuttle Discovery comes after the end of the space shuttle program in NASA. Although this seems to be a sad end to the shuttle era, many hope that this end will bring a new beginning, and that new doors will be opened for space exploration.
One will surely be the launch of the SpaceX shuttle, which will mark the first private space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station coming at the end of the month.
See the first part of the final flight made by the space shuttle Discovery:
