FILE - In this file photo provided by NASA, workers attach space shuttle Discovery to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft in the mate-demate device at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Sunday, April 15, 2012. Discovery will be transported to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington on Tuesday, April 17. (AP Photo/NASA, Kim Shiflett)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The space shuttle Discovery soared around the Washington Monument, the White House and the Capitol in a high-flying salute to the nation's capital.

The world's most traveled spaceship was hitching a ride Tuesday on top a Boeing 747 jet. The pair took a leisurely spin at an easy-to-spot 1,500 feet around Washington after a flight from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

The shuttle-jet combo landed at Dulles International Airport around 11:15 am. On Thursday, it will be towed to its permanent installation at the Smithsonian's annex in northern Virginia.

Discovery flew nearly 149 million miles before it was retired last year. Discovery will replace the shuttle Enterprise at the museum. The Enterprise was a shuttle prototype that never flew in orbit. It will move to a New York museum.

Endeavour will head to Los Angeles this fall. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy.