On January 20, 2013, a day before we attended the Inauguration on the National Mall, we were able to find our way to the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air & Space Museum. The center is the location where NASM has built a facility specifically to showcase its largest holdings of historic air & spacecraft. The range of vehicles on display here may be greater than any other single location in America, maybe in the world. If you find yourself in the Washington DC area, it is a "must visit" location.
As I had been to Udvar-Hazy twice before, the draw for this trip was the recently installed Space Shuttle Orbiter "Discovery." As the oldest of the operational Shuttles, Discovery has taken its rightful place as the "standard bearer" for the Space Shuttle Program.
It was a tad bittersweet seeing her on display like this, as the last time we saw her, she was heading "upstairs" ascending from its Florida launch pad on mission STS-133. We knew then and there that it was her last flight, and it would also be the last time I would get to watch a Space Shuttle launch live and in person.
I took a ton of photos of Discovery in the few hours we were there, so I have chosen what I feel are the "cream of the crop" for posting here. Enjoy!!
My wife, Pat & I, in front of Discovery, holding one of the Manned Space Flight Awareness flags that flew at KSC during our visit to see the launch of STS-133, her last ride into orbit. The flag was obtained from Mr. Bill Schaffer, a United Space Alliance employee at KSC. It was a very proud moment.
Lake County SpacePort 
