Sunrise paints the sky above NASA's Kennedy Space Center transporting space shuttle Discovery takes off from runway 15 at 7 a.m. EDT.

Sunrise paints the sky above NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft transporting space shuttle Discovery takes off from runway 15 at 7 a.m. EDT.

The duo is beginning its ferry flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia that also includes a flyby of the Space Coast and Washington, D.C. Discovery is leaving Kennedy after more than 28 years of service beginning with its arrival on the space coast Nov. 9, 1983. Discovery is set to move to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va., on April 19 where it will be placed on public display. For more information on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, 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 Powers and Tim Terry