I think these guys might have had the best view of all!
My daughter’s class had a fire alarm (turned out to be nothing) so they were all on the playground when it passed overhead. Talk about luck!
–Cliffy
Being in one of the Confederate states, I had to watch on TV.
I loved how they just kept circling, giving millions of people below the opportunity to get a look.
My dad got me up before school for the very first shuttle launch to watch history being made, and I got my daughter up - sick from school- for the same reason!
Hope to make it to DC one day to see her up close.
You’ll have to come to Virginia. 
Okay so they’re having a “Welcome the Discovery” weekend but later moving it into the Udzar-Hazy building to replace the Enterprise. Has anyone seen a timeline for that? I searched the Smithsonian site but couldn’t find a date. I’d hate plan a weekend trip only to find we were there just before they opened it up.
They swapped 'em out today. I don’t know if Discovery is going on display immediately, though. (Udvar-Hazy has a large staging area that’s off the exhibition floor, presumably for maintenance and stuff, although you can see it from some parts of the museum.)
I’d check their website, and if there’s nothing there, check again next week.
–Cliffy
Huh - so the older shuttle isn’t on display at the moment? I think that may change our weekend plans; we have an exchange student staying with us for a few more weeks and we were thinking of taking her out there.
I’ve gotta ask, other than the 747, how many other airplanes can fly with a whole 'nother ‘airplane’ strapped to their backs?
Why, an Antonov-225 you big silly.
No, you mistake me. I have no idea if there’s a shuttle on display at Udvar-Hazy right now. The Enterprise isn’t there anymore, but I don’t know if Discovery is already installed or not.
–Cliffy
A C-5. NASA considered it, but decided on the 747 because of the wing design.
I hadn’t heard they were moving the Enterprise to the Intrepid.
There’s a killer Star Trek joke in there, somewhere, but it’ll take someone cleverer than I am to find it.
Suburban Plankton: There’s the Mistel, though that appears to more properly be a bigger plane slung under a smaller one.
Similarly, the Soviets experimented with using Tupolev early bombers to carry fighters up into the air (riding piggyback on the fuselage and wings) and launching them while airborne to increase the fighters’ range.
It is truly an awesome sight. I remember seeing the Enterprise circle New Orleans for the 1984 Worlds Fair. So many of the exhibits were a disappointment but Enterprise kept drawing us back each time we went back.
Incidentally, it’s always so easy for me to forget how huge the Shuttle Orbiters are. Seeing one strapped to the roof of a 747 (itself a very large plane) provides an impressive bit of scale.