Updated: April 17, 2012 at 2:01 PM

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.

Discovery Astronaut John Glenn Jr. embraces his son David, upon his arrival at the Kennedy Space Center, October 26, 1998. UPI/NASA

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In their flight seats aboard Space Shuttle Discovery are (front to back) STS-95 Payload Specialists Chiaki Mukai (M.D., Ph.D.), representing the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA), and John H. Glenn Jr., senator from Ohio, and Mission Specialist Stephen K. Robinson. Mukai, Glenn and Robinson, along with other crew members are at KSC to participate in pre-launch activities, October 9, 1998. UPI/NASA

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