Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Flight To Air And Space Museum (5 Videos)

Yesterday (April 17, 2012) while I was at the 70th Reunion of the Doolittle Raiders at the Air Force Museum getting pictures of the 20 B-25's gathered there, the Space Shuttle Discovery made its final flight... this one atop the 747 repositioning it from Florida to Dulles Airport. You probably already saw all about this in the news, but I thought I'd find a good collection of videos from the event and post them here. So here are the five videos I found that I think are worth your time to check out.

 The first one above is short and has a good views of the takeoff in Florida, plus some close in passes made with this interesting pair of flying machines.

 This video shows the pair making several passes over the Washington D.C area and is presented without any narration or other distractions. The destination of Dulles Airport brings Discovery to the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy facility to replace the Shuttle Enterprise (the glide test Shuttle) that has been on display there for many years. Enterprise will soon be moved to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

 This video is a GoPro style view from the chase plane as Discovery and the 747 made their passes over the D.C. area. Definitely some pretty amazing views even if we never really get up as close as we'd all like to see.

 Video number 4 has the landing at Dulles and taxiing on the airport to the stopping point. It's not a fast pace after the touchdown but it does offer many great views of the pair while moving around the airport.

 This final video is actually my favorite even tho we never see the pair in the sky. It shows the loading of discovery onto the 747 prior to making the final flight to Dulles. This video is not fast paced either but if you're any kind of geek for Shuttle details then I think you'll find it a really interesting one to watch.

 I'm looking forward to the day when I can get to Udvar_Hazy and see Discovery up close and personal. I'm actually beginning to plan an AirPigz meetup sometime late in the fall of 2012 at the Air and Space Museum, so maybe I'll see you there too : )