Space Shuttle Discovery

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This article documents a current spaceflight. Information may change rapidly as the mission progresses.

Space Shuttle Discovery being prepared for mission STS-121.
Discovery
Orbiter Vehicle Designation:	OV-103
Country:	United States
Contract award:	29 January 1979
Named after:	RRS Discovery
First flight:	STS-41-D 30 August 1984 – 5 September 1984
Last flight:	STS-116 9 December 2006 -
Number of missions:	32
Crews:	199
Time spent in space:	268.62 days
Number of orbits:	4,229
Distance Travelled:	–176,657,672 km –109,810,673 mi
Satellites deployed:	26 (including Hubble Space Telescope)
Dockings with Mir:	1
Dockings with ISS:	7 - currenly docked
Status:	Operational, In Flight

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, as the oldest shuttle in service, Discovery is also the flagship of NASA. 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 femur-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 fifth 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 twin return to flight missions in July 2005 and July 2006, 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] STS-114 mission

Main article: STS-114

Discovery prior to docking with the International Space Station.

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 Discovery's external fuel tank, although it apparently did not damage the shuttle. After the problem was discovered, NASA suspended all launches until the problem was 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 traveling 5.8 million miles (9 300 000 km).

Space Shuttle Discovery mission STS-114 lands safely on August 9, 2005.

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.

[edit] STS-121 mission

Main article: STS-121

The STS-121 crew: From the left are Stephanie Wilson, Michael Fossum, both mission specialists; Steve Lindsey, commander; Piers Sellers, mission specialist; Mark Kelly, pilot; Thomas Reiter, ISS Expedition 13 crew member; and Lisa Nowak, mission specialist.

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.

A crack in the foam of the external fuel tank (at right-hand end of cylinder in middle of picture)

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 Facility, 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.

STS-121 landing on July 17, 2006.

STS-121 During Launch July 4th, 2006 2:38pm EDT

In contingency for any launch damage which prevented Discovery's 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Notable missions

• STS-41-D: First flight
• STS-51-D: Carried first sitting United States Member of Congress into space, Senator Jake Garn (R-UT)
• STS-26: Return to space after Challenger disaster (STS-51-L)
• STS-31: Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
• STS-95: Second flight of John Glenn, oldest man in space and second sitting Member of Congress to enter space.
• STS-92, the 100th Space Shuttle Mission
• STS-114: Return to space after Columbia disaster (STS-107)
• STS-121: Second return to space after Columbia disaster and first shuttle launch on a 4th of July.
• STS-116: First night time launch of a shuttle since the Columbia disaster.

Rollout of the orbiter Discovery, 1998 (NASA)

Discovery as viewed from the International Space Station.

Discovery is moved from the OPF to VAB for STS-116, Oct.31, 2006.

A night launch of the STS-116.

[edit] Decommissioning of Space Shuttle Discovery

• According to NASA, Space Shuttle Discovery will be decommissioned in 2010. NASA expects to launch the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle on the new Ares I rocket by 2014.

Discovery on its way to Launchpad 39B during rollout.

[edit] See also

• List of space shuttle missions

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Space Shuttle Discovery

• Return to Flight mission STS-114 and STS-121
• Shuttle Orbiter Discovery (OV-103)
• Night Launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery

v • d • e  Space Shuttle Program
	Main Articles: Space Shuttle program | Space Shuttle
	Components: Orbiter | SRB | External Tank | SSME | OMS | Crawler Transporter
	Orbiters: Enterprise | Columbia | Challenger | Discovery | Atlantis | Endeavour
	Launch Sites: Kennedy Space Center LC-39 | Vandenberg Air Force Base SLC-6
	Developments: Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicle | Shuttle-C | Ares I | Ares V
	Test Articles: Pathfinder
	Misc: Missions | Cancelled Missions | Decision | Crews | Abort modes | In Fiction

v • d • e  Space Shuttles
	US Space Shuttle program Enterprise (atmospheric tests) Pathfinder (ground facilities tests) Columbia (destroyed 2003) Challenger (destroyed 1986) Discovery (active) Atlantis (active) Endeavour (active)	Soviet Buran program OK-GLI (BST-02) (aerotester) Buran (retired, destroyed 2002) Ptichka (95–97% completed, unused) 2.01 (incomplete) 2.02 (partially dismantled) 2.03 (dismantled)