Shuttle Discovery to Take Off Once More from the Cape

The space shuttle Discovery, which completed 39 missions, spent 365 days in space, orbited the Earth 5,830 times, and traveled 148,221,675 miles, is to be lifted off for its final flight out of Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.

Residents along the Space Coast may be able to see the retired craft as it is flown to its new home at the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington, D.C., on the back of the shuttle carrier aircraft as the 747.

The piggybacked plane and spaceship is expected to make a low flyover of the KSC Visitor Complex Rocket Garden and local beaches as far south as Patrick Air Force Base.

According to SpaceFlightnow, the 698,000-pound aircraft-shuttle duo is to take off around 7 a.m.

NASA has the duo arriving at Dulles International Airport between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., depending upon the weather.