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First flown on August 30, 1984, Discovery is the third operational space shuttle, and the oldest remaining in service. It has performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions.

 

 

Rollout of the orbiter Discovery, 1998 (NASA)

 

Rollout of the orbiter Discovery, 1998 (NASA)

 

 

The spacecraft takes its name from previous ships of exploration named Discovery, primarily HMS Discovery, a ship that accompanied explorer James Cook on his third and final major voyage. Others include Henry Hudson's ship Discovery which he used in 1610–1611 to search for a Northwest Passage, and RRS Discovery, a vessel used for expeditions to Antarctica in 1901-1904 by Scott and Shackleton (and still preserved as a museum). The shuttle shares a name with Discovery One, the spaceship from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

 

 

Space Shuttle
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STS-114 Flight Briefing Materials
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STS-114 preflight imagery
The Return to Flight Reference Page
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Updates on the International Space Station are moving. Please go to the new Space Station page on the NASA Web for continuing International Space Station coverage.

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Discovery was the shuttle that launched the Hubble Space Telescope. The second and third Hubble Space Telescope service mission was also conducted by Discovery. It has also launched the Ulysses probe and three TDRS satellites. Discovery has been chosen twice as the return to flight orbiter, first as the return to flight orbiter after the Challenger Disaster in 1986, and as the orbiter for the return to flight mission in July 2005, after the Columbia Disaster. Discovery also carried Project Mercury astronaut John Glenn, who was 77 at the time, back into space during STS-95 on October 29, 1998, making him the oldest human being to venture into space.

 

 

Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-114 lands safely on August 9, 2005.

 

Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-114 lands safely

on August 9, 2005

 

 

STS-114 mission

 

On July 26, 2005 at 10:39 EDT, Discovery launched into space on mission STS-114, marking the first shuttle launch since the February 2003 Columbia Disaster. Video taken during the minutes after the launch revealed that a piece of foam insulation came off Discovery's external fuel tank, although it apparently did not damage the shuttle. After the problem was discovered, NASA suspended all future launches until the problem is solved.

 

Discovery was set to return on August 8, 2005, but their mission was extended due to unfavorable weather conditions. The shuttle returned from orbit on August 9, 2005, landing at Edwards Air Force Base at 8:12 AM EDT after travelling 5.8 million miles.

 

 

Flights

 

Space Shuttle Discovery has flown 31 flights, spent 241.95 days in space, completed 3,808 orbits, and flown 98,710,673 miles (158,859,429 km) in total, as of July 2005.

Discovery is set for retirement in 2010.

 

Notable missions

  • STS-41-D: First Flight

  • STS-51-D: Carried first sitting United States congressman into space, Senator Jake Garn (R-UT)

  • STS-26: Return to space after Challenger disaster (STS-51-L)

  • STS-95: Second flight of John Glenn, oldest man in space

  • STS-114: Return to space after Columbia disaster (STS-107)


Date Designation Notes
1984 August 30 STS-41-D Launched two communications satellites
1984 November 8 STS-51-A Launched two and rescued two communications satellites
1985 January 24 STS-51-C Launched DOD Magnum ELINT satellite
1985 April 12 STS-51-D Launched two communications satellites
1985 June 17 STS-51-G Launched two communications satellites
1985 August 27 STS-51-I Launched three communications satellites
1988 September 29 STS-26 Return to flight, launched TDRS
1989 March 13 STS-29 Launched TDRS
1989 November 22 STS-33 Launched DOD Magnum ELINT satellite
1990 April 24 STS-31 Launch of Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
1990 October 6 STS-41 Launch of Ulysses
1991 April 28 STS-39 Launched DOD Air Force Program-675 (AFP675) satellite
1991 September 12 STS-48 Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS)
1992 January 22 STS-42 International Microgravity Laboratory-1 (IML-1)
1992 December 2 STS-53 Department of Defense payload
1993 April 8 STS-56 Atmospheric Laboratory (ATLAS-2)
1993 September 12 STS-51 Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS)
1994 February 3 STS-60 Wake Shield Facility (WSF)
1994 September 9 STS-64 LIDAR In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE)
1995 February 3 STS-63 Rendezvous with Mir space station
1995 July 13 STS-70 7th Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS)
1997 February 11 STS-82 Servicing Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
1997 August 7 STS-85 Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes
1998 June 2 STS-91 Final Shuttle/Mir Docking Mission
1998 October 29 STS-95 Second flight of John Glenn
1999 May 27 STS-96 Resupply mission for the International Space Station
1999 December 19 STS-103 Servicing Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
2000 October 11 STS-92 International Space Station Assembly Flight
2001 March 8 STS-102 International Space Station crew rotation flight
2001 August 10 STS-105 International Space Station crew and supplies delivery
2005 July 26 STS-114 Return to flight, International Space Station supplies delivery, new safety procedures testing and evaluation

 

 

List of space shuttle missions :

 

 

 

Space Shuttles

 American

  • Enterprise (test)
  • Pathfinder (mock-up)
  • Columbia († 2003)
  • Challenger († 1986)
  • Discovery (op.)
  • Atlantis (op.)
  • Endeavour (op.)

 Soviet

  • Buran (2 mis.)
  • Ptichka (inc.)
  • Baikal (inc.)

 

 

 

 


 

 

External links

 

 

Orbiter Vehicles

Shuttle Orbiter Discovery (OV-103)

Track Discovery with Google Maps

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