NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft transports the space shuttle Discovery to its new home, after departing from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on April 17, 2012. The aircraft, known as an SCA, is a Boeing 747 jet that was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. #

Discovery executes a three-point turnaround outside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, readying for its trip to the Shuttle Landing Facility, on April 14, 2012. A tail cone has been installed over its three replica shuttle main engines to reduce aerodynamic drag and turbulence during its upcoming ferry flight. #

At the Shuttle Landing Facility, operations are under way at the mate-demate device to lift Discovery on top of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, on April 14, 2012. The device, known as the MDD, is a large gantry-like steel structure used to hoist a shuttle off the ground and position it onto the back of the aircraft. #

In the early morning hours of April 16, 2012, at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with space shuttle Discovery atop, backs away from the mate/demate device. #

Space Center workers watch as the space shuttle Discovery is towed from the Mate Demate facility while attached to a modified NASA 747 aircraft at Kennedy Space Center, on April 16, 2012. #

An aerial view of the long Shuttle Landing Facility SLF runway at NASA's Kennedy Space Center that space shuttle Discovery, bolted to the top of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, will take off from on April 17. Photo taken on April 16, 2012. #

From left, Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott, Mike Barratt, Steve Bowen, Eric Boe, and Steve Lindsey, the last crew of space shuttle Discovery, which sits atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft ready to transport from Kennedy Space Center to Washington, District of Columbia, on April 16, 2012. #

NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, carrying Discovery, taxis down the runway for a takeoff at 7 a.m. EDT, on April 17, 2012. In the background is the 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building. #

Space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, flies over a Washington, District of Columbia, neighborhood, as seen from a NASA T-38 aircraft, in this April 17, 2012 photo. #

Sixth-graders visiting the Capitol from from the Stratford Academy in Macon, Georgia, watch the final voyage of the space shuttle Discovery as it soars above Washington, District of Columbia, after a flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on, April 17, 2012. #

Space shuttle Discovery, mounted atop a shuttle carrier aircraft, flies by the Washington Monument during a flyover of the nation's capital on its final trip, on April 17, 2012 in Washington, District of Columbia, #

People gather to watch the arrival of the space shuttle Discovery at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, on April 17, 2012 in Chantilly, Virginia. Hundreds of people arrived early in the morning to watch the arrival of the shuttle from the parking lot of the center. #

Space shuttle Discovery flies over NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on April 17, 2012. The flight path included Goddard as a nod to the many support and communications specialists working with the Shuttle program at Goddard during Discovery's 39 missions. #

People watch a fly-over of Discovery at Washington Dulles International Airport during the final trip to its retirement place, on April 17, 2012 in Chantilly, Virginia. #

A young boy wears an astronaut costume in the parking lot of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, on April 17, 2012 in Chantilly, Virginia. Hundreds of people gathered at the museum early in the morning to watch the arrival of the space shuttle Discovery. #

Its final flight complete, the space shuttle Discovery, sits on the Dulles International Airport tarmac under blue skies, on April 17, 2012. Discovery will be lifted from the carrier aircraft shortly, and will towed to the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center for display. #