Four attractions across the US are to become the new home of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) retired space shuttle fleet.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden has announced that shuttle Enterprise, the first orbiter built, is to be relocated to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York.

The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center, Virginia - the current home of Enterprise - will now be the new home of shuttle Discovery.

Endeavour will take up residence at the California Space Center in Los Angeles after it completes its 39th and final mission due to take place at the end of the month.

Florida's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will become the home of Atlantis, which is due to embark on the last planned shuttle mission in June.

Bolden said: "These facilities we've chosen have a noteworthy legacy of preserving space artefacts and providing outstanding access to US and international visitors."

Meanwhile, a number of other attractions and institutions will receive shuttle artefacts, with a full fuselage trainer heading for the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Shuttle simulators; a nose cap assembly and crew compartment trainer; flight deck pilot and commander seats; and orbital manoeuvring system engines will also go on display.

Image: Biersaufer – Enterprise is to move from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center to New York's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.