Final preparations are being made to transport retired US space shuttle Discovery to its new home at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Virginia, on 17 April.

A modified 747 jet will carry the shuttle from Kennedy Space Center to Washington Dulles International Airport, before the vessel takes up residence at the museum on 19 April.

Once Discovery arrives at the Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center, it will join the museum's collection of 50,000 objects - including another former shuttle, the Enterprise.

However, Enterprise – the first orbiter built – is to relocate from the National Air and Space Museum to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York following the arrival of Discovery.

Both are among the four retired National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shuttles that are scheduled to arrive in their respective new permanent homes by the end of 2012.

Atlantis will be housed in a new US$100m (£62.7m, EUR76m) exhibit designed by PGAV Destinations at the Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex in Florida.

Details: www.airandspace.si.edu