![]() The name Discovery was chosen to carry on a tradition based on ships of exploration, primarily HMS Discovery, one of the ships commanded by Captain James Cook during his third and final major voyage from 1776 to 1779, and Henry Hudson's Discovery, which was used in 1610–1611 to explore Hudson Bay and search for a Northwest Passage. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The shuttle is now on display at the Steven F. ![]() Discovery performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions, and also carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit among other satellites.ĭiscovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endeavour and then Atlantis. It embarked on its final mission, STS-133, on February 24, 2011, and touched down for the last time at Kennedy Space Center on March 9, having spent a cumulative total of nearly a full year in space. ĭiscovery became the third operational orbiter to enter service, preceded by Columbia and Challenger. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry. The Space Shuttle launch vehicle had three main components: the Space Shuttle orbiter, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. ![]() The spaceplane was one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Space Shuttle Discovery ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is a retired American spacecraft. Udvar-Hazy Center Discovery rollout ceremony in October 1983 Discovery and SCA 905 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, November 6, 1983 ![]()
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