Shuttle's final salute caps off 30 years of Discovery (51 images)

NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery flew it's final flight on April 17, 2012, soaring over Washington, D.C. on it's way to a permanent installation at Dulles International Airport. After 30 years, NASA ended the space shuttle program last summer.

STS-121 Mission Specialist Piers Sellers works in the Space Shuttle Discovery's payload bay during space walk next to the International Space Station on July 8, 2006. (UPI Photo/NASA)

License photo | Permalink

---

---

STS-121 Mission Specialist Piers Sellers works at the end of the orbital boom sensor system of the Space Shuttle Discovery during spacewalk next to the International Space Station on July 8, 2006. (UPI Photo/NASA)

License photo | Permalink

---

---

President George W. Bush watches the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery in the Oval OfficeÕs Private Dining Room Tuesday, July 26, 2005. (UPI Photo/ Eric Draper/White House).

License photo | Permalink

---

---

Japanese astronaut Chiaki Mukai (left), with the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and Mission Specialist Scott E. Parazynski look over equipment being used on an experiment with toadfish on mission space shuttle Discovery, October 27, 1998. UPI/NASA

License photo | Permalink

---

---