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Discovery to make final landing at Smithsonian The space shuttle Discovery will be put on permanent display Thursday at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Crew members of space shuttle Discovery snap a self-portrait in space during their six-day mission in September 1984. Crew members are, counter-clockwise from center, Henry Hartsfield Jr., commander; Michael Coats, pilot; Steven Hawley, Judith Resnik, mission specialists; Charles Walker, payload specialist; and Richard Mullane, mission specialist.
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AP
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Mission specialist Judith Resnik is shown in the mid-deck of the orbiting space shuttle Discovery.
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AP
Discovery soars away from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, beginning its maiden voyage. The liftoff occurred at 8:42 a.m. on Aug. 30, 1984.
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NASA
Discovery streaks into space on a plume of smoke.
Joe Raedle
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Getty Images
Vice President George H. W. Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush, talk to the space shuttle Discovery crew from Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center, Sept. 4, 1984, in Houston.
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AP
The space shuttle Discovery is reflected in a canal at the Kennedy Space Center as it is towed to the orbital processing facility on Nov. 16, 1984.
Phil Sandlin
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AP
Astronaut Dale Gardner is shown as he captured the Westar satellite and returned it to the space shuttle Discovery. This picture was released by NASA on Nov. 17, 1984.
NASA
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AP
Astronaut Dale Gardner, left, holds a "For Sale" sign, making light of the status of the retrieved communications satellite below in the cargo bay of the space shuttle Discovery in November 1984. Astronaut John Allen IV stands on the end of the arm of the Remote Manipulator System.
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AP
Discovery approaches the International Space Station during its 39th and final flight Feb. 26, 2011.
NASA
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Getty Images
The space shuttle Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center on March 9, 2012, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
The Discovery’s 20,000 heat shield tiles, many scorched and cracked, are to be left as-is, to reflect the stresses of its final mission.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
Discovery made 39 flights in 27 years for NASA, the most of any shuttle.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
Discovery, background, switches places with the space shuttle Atlantis, foreground, at Kennedy Space Center.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
The space shuttle Discovery is pulled to a newer workspace, left, where it will be fitted for its flight to the D.C. area.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
Longtime NASA employees unfurl a commemorative quilt made by Vickie Turner, upper right. Others in the photo are Kim Meyer, lower right, Jamie Crockett, far left, Chuck Hallett, top right, Dena Richmond, top left.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
Walter "Buddy" McKenzie, day shift manager for shuttle transition and retirement, next to the space shuttle Discovery.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
Aerospace technician Kurt McCaughey wears a shirt commemorating the end of the shuttle program.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
The view from the crew module into the Discovery payload bay as workers prepare the shuttle for display.
Jon Brack
Kennedy Space Center employee Travis Thompson on the ladder that leads to the flight deck of Discovery.
Jon Brack
Discovery will be displayed in a “last flown” configuration, but Smithsonian visitors won’t have access to the interior.
Jon Brack
Kennedy Space Center employees replace window number 10 of the shuttle because it has an impact crater after it was struck by a micro-meteorite.
Jon Brack
Kennedy Space Center employee Jay Beason reinstalls window number 6 after its hazardous pyrotechnics were removed for safe museum display. The window was designed to blast off for a quick exit on the runway if an emergency happened after landing.
Jon Brack
Inside one of the Discovery's main engines.
Jon Brack
The tail cone freshly installed for Discovery's transport to Virginia.
Jon Brack
NASA official Stephanie S. Stilson, inside a portable tool shed at Washington Dulles International airport, is helping to prepare for the arrival of the Discovery.
Bill Ingalls
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AP
From left, Mike Barnes, Pat Floyd and Chris Kaspar work on assembling part of a sling that will be used to lift space shuttle Discovery off of the modified Boeing 747 aircraft once it arrives at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Bill Ingalls
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AP
“Discovery tells its own story by the way it looks,” says Valerie Neal, curator of human spaceflight at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
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