Lift-off of STS-133, final mission for Discovery. / Source: NASA
That’s it.
On March 9, 2011, space shuttle (technically, orbiter) Discovery landed at Kennedy Space Center after its final mission in space. This marked the conclusion of Discovery’s 38th mission (STS-133), from which it will retire as NASA’s hardest-working orbiter in the shuttle fleet. Discovery was NASA’s workhouse and many related it as the shuttle fleet’s eldest sibling. Here is a small list of Discovery’s amazing accomplishments over its 27-year history of spaceflight:
- Discovery got its names from historical sea-faring ships, primarily HMS Discovery which was commanded by Captain James Cook during his third and final voyage (1776-1779). Henry Hudson also searched for the Northwest Passage in a ship named discovery in 1610-1611. 1
- Discovery performed 39 missions and took 246 astronauts to space.
- In April 1990, Discovery released the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit
- Discovery carried Russian cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev, to space. The first Russian to ever fly in a NASA spacecraft.
- Discovery spent a total of 365 days in space, orbited Earth 5,830 times and traveled 148,221,675 miles
- Discovery was the first shuttle to fly after both the Challenger and Columbia disasters.
- That mission didn’t turn out so well for Henry Hudson, not only did he fail to find a water-route from the Atlantic to the Pacific, his crew mutinied and sent him adrift in a small boat. He was never seen again. ↩
Discovery's Final Landing / Source: NASA and 46blyz.com
As someone who considers himself a member of the “Space Shuttle Generation”, it’s sad to see Discovery retired; however, I have positive feelings about being able to live in a time to watch her in action.
