Space Shuttle Discovery makes her last flight – photos

THE space shuttle Discovery mated atop a 747 carrier aircraft sits on the tarmac at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., before take-off. Discovery, the longest-serving orbiter will be placed to its new home, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photos:

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Space shuttle Discovery waits at the Mate-Demate structure to be to be mounted atop a 747 carrier jet, not pictured, at the Kennedy Space Center, Saturday, April 14, 2012, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. High winds stopped the operation and forced NASA to postpone the hoisting operation until 5 a.m. Sunday. Discovery will be transported to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington on Tuesday, April 17. (AP Photo/John Raoux)