The Space Shuttle Discovery was NASA’s third operational orbiter.
Its name originated primarily from the British full-rigged ship HMS Discovery,
captained by James Cook during its final exploration voyage of 1776. The
spacecraft Discovery was first launched in 1984, and flew more missions than
any of its sister shuttles by the time it was retired in 2011. Today, the Space
Shuttle Discovery is displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia – just a few
minutes from Washington Dulles International Airport. If you have an
opportunity to see her in person, I highly recommend it.
It’s difficult for me to imagine a national space program
without these magnificent space machines, majestically taking-off and landing
periodically, but times change and there are some very intelligent individuals
in the space program who I’m sure know better than I. So, in my own small
salute and tribute to the many years of wonderful and astonishing memories from
the Space Shuttle Program, here are a few of Space Shuttle Discovery’s many
notable accomplishments:
- Discovery completed 39 successful missions in 27 years.
- Discovery flew 149 million miles and completed 5,830 orbits.
- Discovery spent a cumulative total of 365 days (1 full year) in space.
- Discovery was chosen for the “Return to Flight” orbiter in 1988, after the 1986 Challenger disaster.
- Discovery launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.
- Discovery is the first American spacecraft to carry a Russian into space (1994).
- Discovery carried 77 year old Mercury astronaut John Glenn, back in to space in 1998, making Glenn the oldest person to have ever gone into space.
- Discovery carries the first Spaniard to ever travel into space (1998).
- Discovery was the first shuttle to dock with the International Space Station (1999).
- Discovery was chosen again for the “Return to Flight” orbiter in 2005, after the 2003 Columbia disaster.
- Discovery was the first operational NASA space shuttle to be retired (2011).
- Discovery flew 149 million miles and completed 5,830 orbits.
- Discovery spent a cumulative total of 365 days (1 full year) in space.
- Discovery was chosen for the “Return to Flight” orbiter in 1988, after the 1986 Challenger disaster.
- Discovery launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.
- Discovery is the first American spacecraft to carry a Russian into space (1994).
- Discovery carried 77 year old Mercury astronaut John Glenn, back in to space in 1998, making Glenn the oldest person to have ever gone into space.
- Discovery carries the first Spaniard to ever travel into space (1998).
- Discovery was the first shuttle to dock with the International Space Station (1999).
- Discovery was chosen again for the “Return to Flight” orbiter in 2005, after the 2003 Columbia disaster.
- Discovery was the first operational NASA space shuttle to be retired (2011).
(for more photos of the Space Shuttle Discovery and other aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, click here.)
