Queen wraps up her royal US tour

Queen Elizabeth II marked the final day of her six-day tour of the eastern US with a visit to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and a trip to the National World War II Memorial to pay tribute to American veterans.

The final day of British Monarch’s six-day American visit started in the morning with a trip to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in suburban Maryland, where she heard three astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) describe their work via video link.

She was joined by British-born NASA astronaut Michael Foale, who asked questions to the crew members, Indian American Sunita Williams and two Russians, commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov.

The video link at the flight center was one-way, so the crew members could not see the queen standing by silently. The live video link continued for six minutes before unspecified glitches caused the images of the astronauts to disappear from the screen.

Hundreds of NASA employees and relatives were lining-up to greet Her Highness as she arrived along with her husband, Prince Philip for a tour of the Goddard Space Flight Center.

The royal visit to the NASA facility ended with the Queen planting a tree in the garden outside the flight center to commemorate her visit.

The royal couple spent the afternoon of their last day in the U.S. visiting a children's hospital in the U.S. capitol with first lady Laura Bush. The queen spoke to sick children as they made cookies.

Later in the day, Queen along with Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, a veteran of the war, and his wife, Barbara paid tribute to American soldiers with a trip to the National World War II Memorial.

It was British queen's first visit to the war memorial, which was dedicated in 2004. The Monarch, a teenage princess during World War II, with permission from her father, King George VI, served her country in the war as a driver in the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women's branch of the British Army.

The queen placed a wreath in honor of the 400,000 U.S. troops who died, and a ribbon across it read: "In memory of the glorious dead."

The queen capped her US visit by hosting a dinner at the British Embassy for Bushes, a return favor for the white-tie state dinner Bushes put on for the royal couple Monday night at the White House.

The royal couple yesterday flew back to England.