For those who will be in the Washington, D.C., area Tuesday morning and would like to see space shuttle Discovery on the "fly-in" to its retirement home outside the nation's capital, the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum recommends being in one of these seven "great locations" before 10 a.m. ET:
District of Columbia
-- "The National Mall, including Memorial Bridge, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the east end.
-- "Hains Point at East Potomac Park, south of the Jefferson Memorial and the 14th Street Bridge.
-- "The Southwest Waterfront Park.
Virginia
-- "Long Bridge Park, located at 475 Long Bridge Dr. in Arlington.
-- "Old Town Alexandria waterfront.
-- "Gravelly Point, just off the George Washington Parkway, near National Airport.
Maryland
-- "National Harbor, just off the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Prince George's County, Md. Follow Beltway exits."
Discovery, catching a ride atop a jumbo jet, is due to fly over the D.C. area between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. It will be low enough to put on quite a show, weather-permitting ( the forecast is calling for "partly cloudy" skies at that hour and temperatures in the mid-60s). The shuttle is traveling from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, adjacent to Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va.
NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce had much more about Discovery's last trip, and those of the other now-retired shuttles, on All Things Considered.
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