FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Space Shuttle Discovery will make its final landing in Fairfax County on April 17.
Discovery will take off — positioned on the back of a modified Boeing 747 jet from Kennedy Space Center in Florida — in the early hours of April 17 bound for Dulles International Airport and is expected to arrive during the mid-morning hours, according to Fairfax County officials.
Fairfax County officials said the spacecraft’s landing will not be visible, but they have invited residents to come and watch the orbiter approach from the historic Sully Historic Site located off Va. 28 in Chantilly. They are also exploring ways to televise the landing live from the airport. There’s a $10 cover charged for admission to the park, which includes a tour of the historic home Northern Virginia’s first congressman, Richard Bland Lee.
Discovery flew 39 missions, beginning in 1984 until March 2011. It twice flew NASA’s “return to flight” missions in 1988 and 2006, following the Challenger and Columbia disasters in 1986 and in 2003, respectively.
Discovery also deployed the famed Hubble Telescope, which since 1990 has beamed back to earth fascinating images of the cosmos.
Once in Fairfax County, the shuttle will be on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Udvar-Hazy Center. The space shuttle program’s test orbiter, Enterprise, has been on display at the Air and Space center, but Enterprise will now be on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
