Today, the Space Shuttle Enterprise made a glorious final flight over Manhattan, en route to its final home at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.

The original test space shuttle, it was never flown in an actual mission. Enterprise flew into New York City today atop a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The air- and spacecraft duo touched down at John F. Kennedy Airport at 11:22 a.m. following a photogenic flyover of some of the metropolitan area’s most famous sights, including the Statue of Liberty.

The flight represents a half century of space initiative and exploration, spurred on by President Kennedy’s famous Moon Speech in 1962.

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

Tags: JFK, Kennedy, NASA, Popular Culture, Presidents, Space Program, Speeches