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Space Shuttle Discovery (NASA Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of three remaining spacecraft in the space shuttle fleet belonging to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). First flown in 1984, Discovery is the third operational space shuttle, and the oldest in service. Discovery has performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions.
The spacecraft takes its name from previous ships of exploration named Discovery, primarily HMS ''Discovery'', the sailing ship that accompanied famous 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 fictional femer-shaped Jupiter spaceship from the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: The Year We Make Contact.
Discovery was the shuttle that launched the Hubble Space Telescope. The second and third Hubble service missions were also conducted by Discovery, and she is currently scheduled to perform the 5th one sometime in 2008. She 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 1986 ''Challenger'' disaster in 1988, and as the orbiter for the return to flight mission in July 2005, after the 2003 ''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.
Had the planned DOD shuttle missions from Vandenberg Air Force Base gone ahead, Discovery would have flown these missions.
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STS-114 mission
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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. Videos taken during the minutes after the launch revealed that a piece of foam insulation came off Discoverys 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. During the mission astronauts removed a piece of gap filler from the nose on an extra-vehicular activity (spacewalk).
Discovery was set to return on August 7, 2005, but their mission was extended due to unfavorable weather conditions. The shuttle returned from orbit on August 9, 2005, landing in darkness at 8:12 AM EDT just before dawn at Edwards Air Force Base after travelling 5.8 million miles (9 300 000 km).
Discovery was flown from Edwards Air Force Base using a Boeing 747 (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) and landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10 AM, Monday, August 22. After landing, Discovery was lifted off the back of the 747 and then towed to the nearby Orbiter Processing Facility, marking the end of STS-114. Here, Discovery was emptied of its cargo from the International Space Station and was readied for the next shuttle mission, STS-121.
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STS-121 mission
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STS-121 was the second Return to Flight Testing after the Columbia accident in 2003, and the 115th launch of the space shuttle overall. At first, the space shuttle Atlantis was selected for this mission, but after the external tank foam loss issues with STS-114, the launch was delayed to July 2006, enabling NASA to select Discovery for STS-121. STS-121 will also continue the demonstration of heat shield repair techniques. STS-121 will visit the International Space Station with additional supplies using the Italian built Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. With sufficient supplies, the ISS could accommodate a third astronaut. German European Space Agency Astronaut Thomas Reiter joined Russian commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA's Jeffrey Williams, making the ISS truly international again.
Discovery was on launch pad 39B at Cape Canaveral in preparation for its July 4 launch date, following rollout on May 19. It was twice postponed from the first possible launch times, July 1 at 3:49 PM ET and July 2 at 3:25 PM ET, due to bad weather, in the form of poor visibility at the Shuttle Landing Facillity, and cumulonimbus clouds near the launch site. An approximately six-inch (15 cm) crack was found in the foam on the external fuel tank on July 3rd, however NASA engineers still moved ahead with a July 4th launch.
The shuttle successfully launched at 2:38 pm Eastern Daylight Time (18:38 UTC). All clear was given by computer systems. The launch was flawless. The external fuel tank was jettisoned at 2:46 Eastern Daylight Time (18:46 UTC), eight minutes after launch. The launch was covered extensively on CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and in High Definition on HDnet. There were reports on the BBC from NASA officials that four pieces of foam had broken off the fuel tank during take off, but these breakages were not considered to be too important. All of the pieces broke off outside the time window (near max-Q) that NASA considered dangerous and only one was above the mass limit that NASA considered to be dangerous for breakages inside the time window.
In contingency for any launch damage which prevented Discoverys safe return to Earth, the SRBs and External tank for Atlantis were coupled inside the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building), making the orbiter available for launch within 50 days. On July 9, Discovery was cleared to return to Earth on schedule, and on July 17, 2006 at 9:14 AM EDT. Discovery landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, despite a slight threat of thunderstorms.
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Flights
Space Shuttle Discovery has flown 32 flights, spent 241.95 days in space, completed 3,808 orbits, and flown 98,710,673 statute miles (158,859,429 km) in total, as of July 2006. It has flown the most flights of all Space Shuttles so far (a title it is likely to keep). Discovery has also flown on more individual flights than any other spacecraft in history and is likely to retain this honor for some time as no planned launch vehicles (neither American nor International) have a designed lifespan of more than 10 flights. Discovery has flown both "return to flight" missions after the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' and ''Columbia'' disasters: STS-26 in 1988 and STS-114 in 2005.
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Notable missions
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STS-95: Second flight of John Glenn, oldest man in space and second sitting Member of Congress to enter space.
STS-121: Second return to space after Columbia disaster and first shuttle launch on a 4th of July.
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Decommissioning of Space Shuttle Discovery
According to NASA, Space Shuttle Discovery will be decommissioned in 2010. NASA expects to have a reusable launch vehicle by 2014.
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Trivia
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See also
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