Thousands of people gathered on Tuesday at Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport—spilling out into the roadways and blocking traffic, with some on the rooftops of nearby buildings—to witness the final approach and landing of the space shuttle Discovery. The aircraft conducted a "missed approach" at Dulles before flying over downtown Washington, D.C. and around the Capital region, returning for final touchdown about 40 minutes later—after a second missed approach and circling the airport one last time.

Photos by Andrew Parker, Editor-in-Chief of Rotor & Wing, representing Aviation Today: www.aviationtoday.com