Discovery lands at new home near DC

By SETH BORENSTEIN and BRETT ZONGKER
(AP) The space shuttle Discovery, atop a 747 carrier aircraft, makes a flyover at Dulles International...
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CHANTILLY, Va. (AP) - Space shuttle Discovery has landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, where its wheels will stop for the last time at the Smithsonian.

The world's most traveled spaceship landed Tuesday after taking off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and soaring around the Washington Monument and White House in a salute to the nation's capital. Discovery rode on the back of a 747 jet and took a spin around Washington at an easy-to-spot 1,500 feet before it was grounded for good.

Discovery will be towed Thursday to its installation at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles in northern Virginia.

Discovery flew nearly 149 million miles before retiring last year.

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Borenstein reported from Washington.
AP Aerospace writer Marcia Dunn in Cape Canaveral, Fla., contributed to this report.