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Final wheels stop: Space shuttle Discovery enters the Smithsonian Photos credit: collectSPACE / Ben Cooper / Michael Grabois / Robert Z. Pearlman
Space shuttle Enterprise, NASA's prototype orbiter that never flew in space but was used for a series of approach and landing tests in the late 1970s, had been on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center since December 2003.
To make room for space-flown Discovery, Enterprise was rolled out of the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Udvar-Hazy Center early Thursday morning, April 19. Weather permitting, it will be mated atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and flown to New York for the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on April 23.
Astronaut Joe Engle (right), who flew on both Enterprise and Discovery, accompanied Enterprise on its roll out of the Udvar-Hazy Center.