04-10-2012, 09:56 AM
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER --
Space shuttle Discovery will be the first shuttle to leave NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the road to retirement.
Discovery is set to depart KSC on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747 on Tuesday, April 17. And you have a chance to say goodbye before it heads to its new home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Discovery's final ferry flight will mark the 38th time it has taken to the air atop NASA 905, the original of two shuttle carrier aircraft. NASA retired its second modified Boeing 747 earlier this year.
NASA 905 is scheduled to fly into Kennedy Space Center from Dryden Flight Research Center in California on April 10. Four days later, Discovery will be lowered onto its back using a specially built crane, designed to load and unload orbiters for their ferry flights.
According to Kennedy Space Center, Discovery and the final crew members to fly aboard the shuttle, will be at KSC in the days leading up to the departure.
Details of the departure are still being finalized, but here's what we know:
Tuesday, April 17, 2012:
Discovery, mounted atop the 747, is scheduled to depart at 7 a.m., weather permitting.
The mated aircraft will leave the KSC landing facility and fly south over Brevard beaches.
At some point, they will loop and do another flyby over the beaches.
KSC intends to then have the aircraft fly near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and over the KSC Visitor Complex before it heads north to Washington, D.C. for a 10 a.m. landing at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Members of the public and current & former space workers are expected to line the beaches of Brevard County in hopes of getting a glimpse of this historic retirement flight.
An arrival ceremony, including a parade of space shuttle Discovery's former astronaut crew members, is planned for April 19. The event will launch the Smithsonian's four day public festival celebrating the orbiter's addition to the National Collection.
![[Image: 1333737950871.jpg]](http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news/articles/cfn/2012/4/6/the_final_departure_/_jcr_content/contentpar/articleBody/image.img.jpg/1333737950871.jpg)
Space shuttle Discovery will be the first shuttle to leave NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the road to retirement.
Discovery is set to depart KSC on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747 on Tuesday, April 17. And you have a chance to say goodbye before it heads to its new home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Discovery's final ferry flight will mark the 38th time it has taken to the air atop NASA 905, the original of two shuttle carrier aircraft. NASA retired its second modified Boeing 747 earlier this year.
NASA 905 is scheduled to fly into Kennedy Space Center from Dryden Flight Research Center in California on April 10. Four days later, Discovery will be lowered onto its back using a specially built crane, designed to load and unload orbiters for their ferry flights.
According to Kennedy Space Center, Discovery and the final crew members to fly aboard the shuttle, will be at KSC in the days leading up to the departure.
Details of the departure are still being finalized, but here's what we know:
Tuesday, April 17, 2012:
Discovery, mounted atop the 747, is scheduled to depart at 7 a.m., weather permitting.
The mated aircraft will leave the KSC landing facility and fly south over Brevard beaches.
At some point, they will loop and do another flyby over the beaches.
KSC intends to then have the aircraft fly near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and over the KSC Visitor Complex before it heads north to Washington, D.C. for a 10 a.m. landing at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Members of the public and current & former space workers are expected to line the beaches of Brevard County in hopes of getting a glimpse of this historic retirement flight.
An arrival ceremony, including a parade of space shuttle Discovery's former astronaut crew members, is planned for April 19. The event will launch the Smithsonian's four day public festival celebrating the orbiter's addition to the National Collection.