Smithsonian welcomes Discovery

Associated Press

CHANTILLY, Va.

NASA turned over space shuttle Discovery on Thursday to the Smithsonian Institution, the first in its orbiter fleet to be transferred to a U.S. museum.

The U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps, astronauts including former Sen. John Glenn and several thousand visitors with American flags greeted Discovery. It will retire as an artifact representing the 30-year shuttle program.

The world’s most-traveled spaceship had been lifted off its Boeing 747 carrier and towed to the National Air and Space Museum’s massive hangar facility near Washington Dulles International Airport.

Curator Valerie Neal said Discovery will be displayed as if it just landed, with its large payload bay doors closed. Some of its side panels are worn and discolored, and tiles on its underbelly show streaks from the flames of re- entry to the atmosphere.

The top question museum visitors have been asking is whether they will be able to walk inside Discovery or see the flight deck, Neal said.

“We don’t permit that here because we treat all of the aircraft and spacecraft as artifacts, not as exhibit props,” she said. Allowing people to walk inside would require cutting a bigger hatch, which would damage it.