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Space shuttle hitches a lift for final voyage

 

Tuesday 17 April 2012 18:23 EDT
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US space shuttle Discovery, sitting atop NASA's 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, flies over Washington monument yesterday
US space shuttle Discovery, sitting atop NASA's 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, flies over Washington monument yesterday (AFP/Getty Images)

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The space shuttle Discovery made a final voyage around the Washington Monument and the White House yesterday, before landing for the last time.

Thousands of people turned out in the US capital to watch the retired shuttle, which is the world's most travelled spaceship.

It was bolted to NASA's 747 shuttle carrier for the trip from Cape Canaveral in Florida to Virginia, where it will be towed to its new home at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

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