Space Shuttle Discovery made her final flight yesterday atop a Jumbo Jet to her retirement home in the Smithsonian Institute.  Thousands saw her off at Kennedy Space Center and thousands more welcomed her to D.C., breath-taken during her saluting circles in the Capital’s sky.  Discovery flew 39 missions over 28 years and marked a historic period of space research and exploration.  She launched the Hubble Telescope to orbit, carried the first Russian cosmonaut on a U.S. spaceship, performed the first rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir, returned pioneer Mercury astronaut John Glenn to orbit and brought shuttle flights back to life after the Challenger and Columbia accidents.

What makes legend?  – The courage and tenacity to pave new ground, actions which speak to our deepest hopes and dreams for a better future and the leadership and collaboration which inspires us to reach new heights.  The center of this isn’t one charismatic leader or the expert spin of messages to shape our perceptions and expectations, but a simple idea which represents our desires to build something better, to improve our world and propel us all forward.