The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space shuttle Enterprise took off from Washington Friday atop a Boeing 747 bound for New York City. Enterprise took off from Washington Dulles International Airport early Friday en route to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The shuttle flew over the Hudson River where residents of New York and New Jersey could view the prototype orbiter that was used for atmospheric test flights in the 1970s. It was later moved by barge up the Hudson River for display at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum in Manhattan. The United States retired its space shuttles last year to begin work on a new generation of spaceships that can carry astronauts to destinations beyond the International Space Station's 384 kilometer-high orbit. NASA has been flying the shuttles to cities around the country for people to view. Space shuttle Discovery flew over Washington on its way to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum annex in Virginia. Space shuttle Endeavor will be flown to the California Science Center in Los Angeles later this year, while Atlantis will go on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
