KSC-2012-2078

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Discovery is towed to the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At the SLF, Discovery will be hoisted onto the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, in the background, 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