Kennedy Space Center, FL – The Space Coast said good bye to one of our most famous residence, Space Shuttle Discovery, on Tuesday, April 17. Discovery was flown over head along the Space Coast one final time. Discovery took off from the runway at KSC at first light, around 7 am, and then the orbiter and Shuttle Carrier Aircraft flew over Kennedy Space Center and the KSC Visitor Complex, headed south to around Patrick AFB then turned around and flew back up the coast along Cocoa Beach & Cape Canaveral and then fly out for D.C. Even though the shuttles are scheduled to flew out there will still be rocket launches to enjoy.

On April 10, a very special plane landed at the Kennedy Space Center, it was a modified Boeing 747 jet airliner, originally manufactured for commercial use, it was turned into a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, or SCA, by NASA and designated NASA 905. It was here to prepare to ferry the shuttle Discovery on her flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Va.

Discovery was the third in NASA’s fleet of orbiters after the Columbia and Challenger. It was launched for the first time on Aug. 30, 1984, completed 39 missions, including the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope, and landed at KSC for the last time on March 9, 2011.

Discovery will be placed on permanent public display in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va.

Republished from PlacesAroundFlorida.com

Space Shuttle Endeavour is about to make its final trip from Launch Complex 39A for mission STS-134 at Kennedy Space Center. With only two Space Shuttle launches left, I wanted to share my favorite photo of Space Shuttle Endeavour, with the Crawler Transporter in foreground, which I shot when I worked at CCAFS. View more Space Shuttle Tribute Images.

The photo above is of Endeavour sitting in wait on Launch Complex 39B for the STS-400 mission which never launched. STS-400 was the Space Shuttle contingency support (Launch On Need) flight, which would have been launched if a major problem had occurred on Space Shuttle Atlantis during STS-125.

Currently, Endeavour is set for lift off in mid April. See my Cape Canaveral Launch Schedule for more information about the mission and times and dates of more launches.

So far, Space Shuttle Endeavour has been on 24 missions with 148 crew members, spent over 280 days in space, orbited the earth 4,429 times and traveled 103,149,636 miles. I wish Godspeed and a safe flight to Endeavour and her STS-134 crew.

If you looking for a great place to watch a Space Shuttle launch, there may be no better place than Grills Seafood & Tiki Bar at Port Canaveral. Space Shuttle Discovery is set to launch in early November for one of the scheduled last two Space Shuttle launches.

Grills serves what is possibly the best Mahi sandwich on the planet. I know it’s the best I’ve ever had. The sandwich is officially called the Grilled Fish & Cheese. It’s served with either Mahi or Tuna, with grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms & smothered with cheese on a fresh toasted roll.

Grills offers a great view of the Port, and is possibly one of the best places to spend the day away from the crowded beaches and causeway the launch will attract. Check the Space Shuttle Launch Schedule for up to date information, times and dates. Sunrise Marina, which shares the waterfront space with Grills also offers fishing charters.

I shot the larger photo above on 4/10/09 behind my place in Cape Canaveral as this Orion spacecraft mockup was being towed by one of the shuttle booster recovery ships as it was undergoing water testing. The inset photo is courtesy of NASA.

President Obama was at Kennedy Space Center today trying to calm fears over the upcoming layoffs and the potential economic disaster on the Space Coast that will involve laying off thousands of workers when the last space shuttle launches. One plan being offered by President Obama is to use the Orion Spacecraft as a rescue vehicle for the International Space Station.

Yesterday I photographed the Liberty Star at Jetty Park towing one of the solid rocket boosters (SRBs) from the STS-129 mission in which Space Shuttle Atlantis launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Nov 16 at 2:28 p.m. EST.

The way the SRBs are retrieved from the Atlantic after a launch is pretty cool. The SRBs themselves will be refurbished and readied for a future shuttle launch from KSC.

The SRBs are 149.16 ft long and 12.17 ft in diameter, weigh 1,300,000 lb at launch.