STS-133 Mission Specialist Michael Barratt talks to a representative of the media with NASA T-38 jets in the background.

At the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-133 Mission Specialist Michael Barratt talks to a representative of the media with NASA T-38 jets in the background. Barratt was a member of the crew to fly on Discovery’s final mission in February and March 2011. Other members of the STS-133 crew were Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Nicole Stott, Michael Barratt, Alvin Drew and Steve Bowen. Discovery is scheduled to depart from Kennedy for the final time tomorrow morning on the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.

Also known as an SCA, the aircraft is a Boeing 747 jet, originally manufactured for commercial use, which was modified by NASA to transport the shuttles between destinations on Earth. The SCA designated NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 905 is scheduled to ferry Discovery to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 17, after which the shuttle will be placed on display in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. For more information on the SCA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-013-DFRC.html. For more information on shuttle transition and retirement activities, visit http://www.nasa.gov/transition. Photo credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs