14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, April 10, at 5:35 pm EDT (2135 UTC), the last operating Shuttle Carrier Aircraft touched down at the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The SCA is currently in Florida to pick up the shuttle Discovery, which is scheduled to head to the East Coast in a few days.
On April 17, the heavily modified Boeing 747 jet airliner will take off from the KSC, and head for the Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Virginia. Discovery will be permanently displayed at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, in Chantilly, Va.
This SCA, called NASA 905, is the only one still in existence today. Its twin, dubbed NASA 911, was retired from active duty this February, after 38 years of service, and 33,004 hours of flight for the US Space Shuttle Program (SSP).
The only thing left for NASA 905 to do at this point is to carry Discovery and Endeavor to their final places of exhibit, in Virginia, and the California Science Center, near Los Angeles, respectively.