NASA turned over space shuttle Discovery last week to the Smithsonian Institution, the first in its orbiter fleet to be transferred to a U.S. museum. Dr. G. Wayne Clough, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution was on hand to greet the arrival of the spacecraft. Clough is a former president of Georgia Tech and a civil engineering alumnus of GT. (The first alumnus to be the president of Tech.)

Clough was joined by two Shuttle commanders who are also engineering graduates from Georgia Tech. Pictured (l-r) are: Scott Jay "Doc" Horowitz (PhD AE 1982, Missions STS-75, STS-82, STS-101, STS-105), Clough, and Alan G. Poindexter (BS AE 1986, Missions STS-122, STS-131). 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. According to the Smithsonian, the museum has created 360-degree interactive pictures of Discovery's flight deck and mid deck. Soon there will also be images of the payload bay accessible at kiosks near the Discovery display. That will allow visitors to have a view from the commander's seat and then float through compartments to explore the shuttle. A companion exhibit at the space museum on the National Mall will include a model of Discovery's mid deck, where visitors can climb inside and see a shuttle toilet (think vacuum cleaner) and other features.

Discovery flew every type of mission during the 30-year shuttle program. It deployed satellites, including Hubble, as well as top secret Defense Department missions in the 1980s with military astronauts on board. It also was the first shuttle to travel to the Russian space station Mir and to dock with the International Space Station. The prototype shuttle Enterprise will leave the Smithsonian to be flown to its new home next week at New York City's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. The last shuttle flights were in 2011.