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Columbia sits under a mate/demate device at Boeing’s Orbiter Assembly Facility in Palmdale, Calif. It was waiting to be mated to Shuttle Carrier Aircraft no. 905 for its ferry flight to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Columbia had been undergoing modifications and upgrades at the Boeing plant. 

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Riding piggyback on its 747 carrier aircraft, space shuttle Columbia is only seconds away from a touchdown at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility, completing its 2,400-mile ferry flight from Dryden Flight Research Center in California. Columbia, the first of the fleet of space shuttles, launched April 12, 1981, on the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Program, STS-1. 

Space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), is seen as it flies over the Hudson River, Friday, April 27, 2012, in New York. Enterprise was the first shuttle orbiter built for NASA performing test flights in the atmosphere and was incapable of spaceflight. Originally housed at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Enterprise will be demated from the SCA and placed on a barge that will eventually be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in June. Photo Credit: (NASA/Matt Hedges)

(Source: Flickr / nasahqphoto)

Space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), is seen as it takes off for New York from Washington Dulles International Airport, Friday, April 27, 2012, in Sterling, VA. Enterprise was the first shuttle orbiter built for NASA performing test flights in the atmosphere and was incapable of spaceflight. Originally housed at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Enterprise will be demated from the SCA and placed on a barge that will eventually be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in June. Photo Credit: (NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Mark Avino)

(Source: Flickr / nasahqphoto)

The Enterprise passes the Statue of Liberty into New York on the last leg of its final flight Friday.

(Source: Flickr / nasahqphoto)

The space shuttle flies past the Jersey City skyline on the last leg of its final flight Friday.

Space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), is seen as it flies near the Empire State Building, Friday, April 27, 2012, in New York.

(Source: Flickr / nasahqphoto)

Space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), is seen as it flies near the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline, Friday, April 27, 2012, in New York. Enterprise was the first shuttle orbiter built for NASA performing test flights in the atmosphere and was incapable of spaceflight. Originally housed at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Enterprise will be demated from the SCA and placed on a barge that will eventually be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in June. Photo Credit: (NASA/Robert Markowitz)

(Source: Flickr / nasahqphoto)

guillee:

Space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), is seen off in the distance behind the Statue of Liberty, Friday, April 27, 2012, in New York. Enterprise was the first shuttle orbiter built for NASA performing test flights in the atmosphere and was incapable of spaceflight. Originally housed at the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Enterprise will be demated from the SCA and placed on a barge that will eventually be moved by tugboat up the Hudson River to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in June. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

This is an awesome photo.