More than a year after its last mission, the retired U.S. space shuttle Discovery was officially welcomed into its new home, April 19, 2012. The shuttle rolled into the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center outside Washington, where it will go on permanent display.
Space Shuttle Discovery Becomes Museum Exhibit
Space shuttle Discovery is rolled toward the transfer ceremony at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, April 19, 2012. . (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Space Shuttles Enterprise, left, and Discovery meet nose-to-nose at the beginning of a transfer ceremony at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. (NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Carolyn Russo)
Former astronaut and US Senator John Glenn holds his hand to his heart during the playing of the National Anthem at the transfer ceremony for space shuttle Discovery. (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Crowd at the transfer ceremony for space shuttle Discovery at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Workers from NASA Kennedy Space Center and United Space Alliance follow space shuttle Discovery as it arrives at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. (NASA/Carla Cioffi)
Opera Singer Denyce Graves sings the National Anthem at a ceremony commemorating the transition of space shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
Space shuttle Enterprise is seen as the United States Marine Corp Drum and Bugle Corps and Color Guard march by at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly. Enterprise will be transferred to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. (NA
Space Shuttle Enterprise is prepared to be rolled from the Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center prior to a transfer ceremony, in Chantilly, Virginia. (NASA/Paul E. Alers)
The space shuttle Discovery is suspended from a sling held by two cranes after the NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was pushed back from underneath at Washington Dulles International Airport, in Sterling, Virginia. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft with the space shuttle Discovery mated on top rolls into position for demating at Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Virginia, April 18, 2012. (NASA/Bill Ingalls)