The world's most traveled space shuttle left Kennedy Space Center on the back of a modified jumbo jet Tuesday to make its final flight home.

Space shuttle Discovery flew over the White House and other landmarks in Washington, D.C., before landing at Dulles International Airport.

Thousands packed the National Mall to watch the pair swoop by.

"Look at that - that thing is mammoth," Maryland resident Terri Jacobsen said. Jacobsen brought her 12-year-old home-schooled son to the mall to watch the flyover

After 30 years, NASA ended its space shuttle program last summer.

Discovery is the first of three shuttles to be transported to a museum. The spaceship will be on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles in northern Virginia.

Discovery flew nearly 149 million miles before being retired was retired. Some 2,000 people gathered along the old shuttle landing strip to see Discovery take off from the space center.