Space shuttle Discovery flies for last time

The space shuttle Discovery, the most journeyed spacecraft of the now-retired American fleet, today made its final flight from Florida to a Washington area museum where it will go on display. Piggybacking atop a modified Boeing 747 kept by NASA specifically for transporting space shuttles, Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A flyover of the US capital was held. The shuttle is due to land at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center outside the US capital in suburban Virginia. A ceremony to mark the official induction of the Discovery at the museum will be held on Thursday. Discovery flew its last mission to space in February and March of last year, on a 13-day trip to the International Space Station. It is the oldest and most travelled craft in the US collection of three space-flying shuttles -- also including Endeavour and Atlantis -- and one prototype, the Enterprise. Two other shuttles were destroyed in flight. Challenger disintegrated shortly after liftoff in 1986 and Columbia broke apart on re-entry to Earth in 2003. Both disasters killed everyone on board. Discovery has spent a total of 365 days in space, and flown nearly 149 million...