NASA's 747 shuttle carrier aircraft takes the space shuttle Enterprise on its final flight from Washington to New York on Friday, April 27, 2012.
New York (CNN) -- The space shuttle Enterprise, mounted atop a 747 jumbo jet, swooped across the New York City skyline on Friday before touching down at the city's John F. Kennedy International Airport, bringing an end to its final flight.
It took off from Virginia's Dulles International Airport with a flight plan that included fly-bys of the Statue of Liberty and other Gotham landmarks. It is ultimately bound for its new home at the city's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
"This is going to be the largest NASA artifact north of Baltimore in the entire Northeast region," said Susan Marenoff-Zausner, the Intrepid's president. "For kids to be able to come and see this when they'd have to travel miles and miles to go somewhere else, it's right in their back yard."
The space agency said it will put the shuttle on a barge in a few weeks and float it up the Hudson River to its final home.
"It's the end of one era, but I think it's the beginning of another era," said space historian Andrew Chaikin. "The shuttle was amazing but it's not sustainable. And above all, we need a space program that can do great things in a sustainable way."
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Shuttle Enterprise's final journey
The shuttle, which has been on display at a Smithsonian Institute museum near Washington, is the latest to shift locations as NASA sends its fleet into retirement.
Discovery -- the most traveled of the shuttles -- is replacing Enterprise in the Smithsonian facility.
Completed in 1976, Enterprise was designed as a prototype test vehicle. Test pilots demonstrated that it could fly and land in the atmosphere like airplanes, but the Enterprise never flew in space.
"It's a very gratifying feeling for someone who's devoted their career to test flying like myself and all the other astronauts," said former Air Force Maj. Gen. Joe Engle, who commanded one of two flight crews that manned the Enterprise during test flights in 1977. "To get a flight in a space shuttle is just the culmination of your entire professional career."
The shuttle was originally to be named the Constitution, but a write-in campaign by fans of the television series "Star Trek" persuaded officials to rename it in honor of the show's main starship.
NASA sent the shuttle on a tour of Europe and Canada in 1983, and it also appeared in the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. The craft made a brief return to service as a ground test vehicle in 1984 before retiring to the Smithsonian's collection in 1985.
NASA is preparing to fly space shuttle Endeavour to Los Angeles sometime in the second half of the year. Atlantis is being readied for display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida.
The other two shuttles in the NASA program, Challenger and Columbia, were destroyed in flight.
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The Enterprise makes its way up the Hudson River while mounted on the shuttle carrier aircraft on its final flight Friday.
Beth Barret says, "As a photographer, I wanted to document this moment in time. I will never see this again."
The Enterprise passes the Statue of Liberty into New York on the last leg of its final flight Friday.
Vijay Lorick captured this image of the shuttle over the Statue of Liberty from the 27th floor of his office building in downtown New York. "Since Monday we've been trying to figure out when it's coming since we do have a great view," he said.
The Enterprise and its carrier get ready for departure from Washington Dulles International Airport on Friday.
The space shuttle flies past the Jersey City skyline on the last leg of its final flight Friday.
The Enterprise is mounted atop its carrier on April 20 in preparation for its final flight on April 27.
People photograph the Enterprise as it flies by the New Jersey skyline Friday.
People watch as the 747 takes off with the shuttle at Washington Dulles International Airport on Friday.
The Enterprise and 747 are seen behind Ellis Island on the shuttle's final flight Friday.
Ebony Simmons shot these photos of the Enterprise's journey from the roof of her office building. The iReporter said she loves the space program, and that it "should absolutely NEVER come to an end."
People watch the Enterprise space shuttle fly past the New Jersey skyline in its final flight.
The Enterprise space shuttle flies up the Hudson River, past the Statue of Liberty on its way to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Enterprise passes over the George Washington Bridge prior to landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday.
The space shuttle Enterpise flies over the Hudson River.
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