Space Shuttle Discovery at Udvar-Hazy Center

Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' (

Orbiter Vehicle Designation The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable launch system, reusable orbital spaceflight, orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 ...

: OV-103) is a retired American

Space Shuttle orbiter The Space Shuttle orbiter is the spaceplane component of the Space Shuttle, a partially reusable launch system, reusable orbital spaceflight, orbital spacecraft system that was part of the discontinued Space Shuttle program. Operated from 1981 ...

. The

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can flight, fly and gliding flight, glide as an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and function as a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbit ...

was one of the orbiters from

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission,

STS-41-D STS-41-D (formerly STS-14) was the 12th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the first mission of Space Shuttle ''Discovery''. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 30, 1984, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, ...

, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft . The Space Shuttle launch vehicle had three main components: the

, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable

solid rocket booster A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give laun ...

s. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry. ''Discovery'' became the third operational orbiter to enter service, preceded by '' Columbia'' and '' Challenger''. After the Challenger and Columbia accidents, Discovery became the oldest surviving orbiter. It embarked on its final mission,

STS-133 STS-133 (Assembly of the International Space Station#Assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF5) was the 133rd mission in NASA's Space Shuttle program; during the mission, Space Shuttle Discovery, Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' docked with the Int ...

, on February 24, 2011, and touched down for the last time at

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

on March 9, having spent a cumulative total of nearly a full year in space. ''Discovery'' performed both research and

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) assembly missions, and also carried the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

into orbit among other satellites. ''Discovery'' was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by '' Endeavour'' and then ''

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

''. The shuttle is now on display at the

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous exhibits, ...

of the Smithsonian

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States, dedicated to history of aviation, human flight and space exploration. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, ...

History

The name ''Discovery'' was chosen to carry on a tradition based on ships of exploration, primarily , one of the ships commanded by Captain

James Cook Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...

during his third and final major voyage from 1776 to 1779, and

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

's , which was used in 1610–1611 to explore

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

and search for a

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

. Other ships bearing the name have included of the 1875–1876

British Arctic Expedition The British Arctic Expedition of 1875–1876, led by Sir George Nares, was sent by the Admiralty (United Kingdom), British Admiralty to attempt to reach the North Pole via Smith Sound on the west coast of Greenland. Although the expedition fail ...

to the North Pole, and , which carried the 1901–1904 ''Discovery'' Expedition to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, led by

Captain Scott Captain Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – ) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–04 and the ''Terra Nova'' expedition of 1910–13. ...

. Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' launched the

and conducted the

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

and

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

Hubble service missions. It also launched the ''Ulysses'' probe and three TDRS satellites. Twice ''Discovery'' was chosen as the "Return To Flight" Orbiter, first in 1988 after the loss of ''Challenger'' in 1986, and then again for the twin "Return To Flight" missions in July 2005 and July 2006 after the ''Columbia'' disaster in 2003.

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

astronaut

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...

, who was 77 at the time, flew with ''Discovery'' on

STS-95 STS-95 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998, using the orbiter Space Shuttle Discovery, ''Discovery''. It was the 25th flight of ''Discovery'' and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the ...

in 1998, making him the oldest person to go into space at that time in history. Had plans to launch

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

payloads from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

gone ahead, ''Discovery'' would have become the dedicated

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

shuttle. Its first West Coast mission,

STS-62-A STS-62-A was a planned NASA Space Shuttle mission to deliver a reconnaissance payload (Teal Ruby) into polar orbit. It was expected to use ''Discovery''. It would have been the first crewed launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, ...

, was scheduled for 1986, but canceled in the aftermath of the ''

Challenger disaster On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 16:3 ...

''. On May 27, 1999, ''Discovery'' was launched on

STS-96 STS-96 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Discovery'', and the first shuttle flight to dock at the International Space Station. It was Discovery's 26th flight. The shuttle carried the S ...

, the first shuttle mission to dock with the

. ''Discovery'' was retired after completing its final mission,

on March 9, 2011. The spacecraft is now on display in Virginia at the

, an annex of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Construction milestones

Features and upgrades

STS-41-D_Crew_Enjoying_Space_-_GPN-2004-00024

STS-121 Discovery posing for inspection photos edit1

During its construction, ''Discovery'' was fitted with several black tiles near the middle starboard window where there should have been white tiles. It is unknown if this was the result of a harmless manufacturing mishap or done intentionally to give a distinctive look to the shuttle. This feature has been called 'teardrop' and allowed ''Discovery'' to be told apart from the rest of the fleet without looking at its name, although often unnoticed by the uninitiated. The spacecraft weighed roughly less than ''Columbia'' when it was brought into service due to optimalizations determined during the construction and testing of ''Enterprise'', ''Columbia'' and ''Challenger''. ''Discovery'' weighs heavier than ''

'' and heavier than '' Endeavour'' after further weight-saving adjustments were made. Part of the ''Discovery'' weight optimizations included the greater use of quilted AFRSI blankets rather than the white LRSI tiles on the fuselage, and the use of graphite epoxy instead of aluminum for the payload bay doors and some of the wing spars and beams. Upon its delivery to the Kennedy Space Center in 1983, ''Discovery'' was modified alongside ''Challenger'' to accommodate the liquid-fueled Centaur-G booster, which had been planned for use beginning in 1986 but was cancelled in the wake of the ''Challenger'' disaster. Beginning in late 1995, the orbiter underwent a nine-month Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (OMDP) in

Palmdale, California Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the Antelope Valley of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On August 24, 1962 ...

. This included outfitting the vehicle with a fifth set of cryogenic tanks and an external airlock to support missions to the

. As with all the orbiters, it could be attached to the top of specialized aircraft and did so in June 1996 when it returned to the Kennedy Space Center, and later in April 2012 when sent to the Udvar-Hazy Center, riding piggy-back on a modified Boeing 747. After

STS-105 STS-105 was the 30th mission of Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', in which Discovery went to the International Space Station. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 10 August 2001. This mission was ''Discoverys final mission until STS ...

, ''Discovery'' became the first of the orbiter fleet to undergo Orbiter Major Modification (OMM) period at the Kennedy Space Center. Work began in September 2002 to prepare the vehicle for Return to Flight. The work included scheduled upgrades and additional safety modifications.

Decommissioning

''Discovery'' was decommissioned on March 9, 2011. NASA offered ''Discovery'' to the

for public display and preservation, after a month-long

decontamination Decontamination (sometimes abbreviated as decon, dcon, or decontam) is the process of removing contaminants on an object or area, including chemicals, micro-organisms, and/or radioactive substances. This may be achieved by chemical reaction, dis ...

process, as part of the national collection. ''Discovery'' replaced ''Enterprise'', which was in the Smithsonian's display at the

until 2011. ''Discovery'' was transported to

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport ( ) – commonly known by its former name of Dulles International Airport, by its airport code of IAD, or simply as Dulles Airport – is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located w ...

on April 17, 2012, and was transferred to the Udvar-Hazy on April 19 where a welcome ceremony was held. Afterwards, at around 5:30 pm, ''Discovery'' was rolled to its "final wheels stop" in the Udvar Hazy Center.

Flights

By its last mission, ''Discovery'' had flown in 39 missions, completed 5,830 orbits, and spent 365 days in orbit over 27 years. ''Discovery'' flew more flights than any other Orbiter Shuttle, including four in 1985 alone. ''Discovery'' flew both "return to flight" missions after the '' Challenger'' and '' Columbia'' disasters:

STS-26 STS-26 was the 26th NASA Space Shuttle mission and the seventh flight of the orbiter ''Discovery''. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on September 29, 1988, and landed four days later on October 3, 1988. STS-26 was decla ...

in 1988,

STS-114 STS-114 was the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. ''Discovery'' launched at 10:39 EDT (14:39 UTC) on her 31st flight on July 26, 2005. The launch, 907 days (approx. 29 months) a ...

in 2005, and

STS-121 STS-121 was a 2006 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by on its 32nd flight. The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the Space Shuttle Columbia disas ...

in 2006. ''Discovery'' flew the ante-penultimate mission of the Space Shuttle program,

, having launched on February 24, 2011. ''Endeavour'' flew

STS-134 STS-134 (ISS assembly sequence, ISS assembly flight ULF6) was the penultimate mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program and the 25th and last spaceflight of . This flight delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier ...

and ''Atlantis'' performed

STS-135 STS-135 ( ISS assembly flight ULF7) was the 135th and final mission of the American Space Shuttle program. It used the orbiter '' Atlantis'' and hardware originally processed for the STS-335 contingency mission, which was not flown. STS-135 ...

, NASA's last Space Shuttle mission. On February 24, 2011, Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' launched from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A to begin its final orbital flight.

Flights listing

‡ Longest shuttle mission for ''Discovery''
– shortest shuttle mission for ''Discovery''

Mission and tribute insignias

Flow directors

The Flow Director was responsible for the overall preparation of the shuttle for launch and processing it after landing, and remained permanently assigned to head the spacecraft's ground crew while the astronaut flight crews changed for every mission. Each shuttle's Flow Director was supported by a Vehicle Manager for the same spacecraft. Space Shuttle ''Discoverys Flow Directors were: * Until 01/1991: John J. "Tip" Talone Jr. (afterwards Flow Director for '' Endeavour'') * 01/1991 – 09/1992: John C. "Chris" Fairey * 09/1992 – 10/1996: David A. King * 10/1996 – 05/2000: W. Scott Cilento * 12/2000 – 03/2011: Stephanie S. Stilson

Gallery

References

External links

Return to Flight mission STS-114 and STS-121

Pictures of preparations for a launch of ''Discovery''

A Space Shuttle's Final Rollout
– slideshow by ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine
April 16, 2007: Consolidated Launch Manifest: Space Shuttle Flights and ISS Assembly Sequence.
* {{Use American English, date=January 2014

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

Historic American Engineering Record in Texas Individual spacecraft in the Smithsonian Institution Individual rockets Individual aircraft