Space Shuttle Discovery
| Discovery OV-103 |
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|---|---|
Space Shuttle Discovery launches from NASA Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A on mission STS-124 on May 31, 2008.
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| OV designation | OV-103 |
| Country | United States |
| Contract award | January 29, 1979 |
| Named after |
Discovery (1602), HMS Discovery (1774), HMS Discovery (1874), RRS Discovery (1901) |
| Status | Retired, on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia |
| First flight |
STS-41-D August 30, 1984 – September 5, 1984 |
| Last flight |
STS-133 February 24, 2011 – March 9, 2011 |
| Number of missions | 39 |
| Crew members | 252 |
| Time spent in space | 1 year (365 days) , 22 hours, 39 minutes, 33 seconds |
| Distance travelled | 148,221,675 mi (238,539,663 km) |
| Satellites deployed | 31 (including Hubble Space Telescope) |
| Mir dockings | 1 |
| ISS dockings | 13 |
Space Shuttle Discovery (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, gathering more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date.
Discovery became the third operational orbiter to enter service, preceded by Columbia and Challenger. It embarked on its last mission, STS-133, on February 24, 2011 and touched down for the final time at Kennedy Space Center on March 9, having spent a cumulative total of almost a full year in space. Discovery performed both research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions. It also carried the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. Discovery was the first operational shuttle to be retired, followed by Endeavour and then Atlantis.
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. Other ships bearing the name have included the HMS Discovery of the 1875–1876 British Arctic Expedition to the North Pole and RRS Discovery, which led the 1901–1904 "Discovery Expedition" to Antarctica.
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