KSC-2012-2066

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – A team of aerospace technicians accompanies space shuttle Discovery as it is towed for the final time from the Launch Complex 39 area to the Shuttle Landing Facility or SLF, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A tail cone has been installed over Discovery’s three replica shuttle main engines to reduce aerodynamic drag and turbulence during its upcoming ferry flight. At the SLF, Discovery will be hoisted onto a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, with the aid of a mate-demate device. The SCA, a modified Boeing 747 jet airliner, is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on permanent public display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. For more information on shuttle transition and retirement activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett